Sonics Trounce Kings, Live To See Second Round Payton, Kemp Guide Relieved Seattle Into Quarterfinals Against Houston

The Seattle SuperSonics finally won a playoff series, and did so by reverting to midseason form.

Gary Payton scored 29 points and Shawn Kemp added 23 as the Sonics ended their first-round playoff jinx, beating Sacramento 101-87 Thursday night and reaching the second round for the first time since 1993.

The Sonics, tentative and mistake-ridden in the first two games against the Kings, won Games 3 and 4 in Sacramento to capture the series 3-1. Seattle, which will play two-time defending champion Houston in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Saturday, showed hints in Games 3 and 4 of the dominating play that earned them 64 wins during the regular season.

“I am so thrilled that we’ve gotten past the first round, it’s relief and elation combined,” said Seattle forward Sam Perkins. “It took two years to climb over this. Now that we’re near the top, we can see some daylight.”

Kemp had his first solid game of the series. He was suspended by the league for Game 1, committed nine turnovers in Game 2 and was limited by foul trouble to seven points in 22 minutes in Game 3.

Kemp was 9 of 15 from the field, including several resounding slams, and had eight rebounds, six steals and three blocked shots despite picking up his fourth foul early in the third period.

“It’s more of a sense of relief,” Kemp said. “Now we can relax and play our style of basketball. We don’t have to worry about the first-round exit.”

The Kings, the only team in the playoffs with a losing record this season, lost leading scorer Mitch Richmond with a sprained right ankle in the second quarter. Richmond, who didn’t play in the second half, also was the Kings’ best defender against Payton.

“It was very hard to watch and know that I couldn’t help. It was very frustrating,” said Richmond, who scored five points after averaging 26 in the first three games of the series. “I couldn’t put any pressure on (the ankle).”

Lionel Simmons scored a season-high 24 and Tyus Edney added 14 for the Kings, who were in the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

The game was tied at 36 when Richmond was hurt 5 minutes, 29 seconds before halftime. Seattle took a 50-48 halftime lead, with Kemp and Payton scoring 12 apiece in the first half.

Payton took over the game in the third quarter with Richmond in the locker room, scoring 10 as the Sonics built a 77-69 lead entering the fourth quarter. Seattle led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter.

“Mitch got hurt and that was a serious blow because we thought we didn’t have anyone else who could match up with Payton,” said Kings coach Garry St. Jean.

The Kings crept within eight points in the opening minutes of the final period, but Kemp’s three-point play with 6:49 left stretched the Seattle lead to 88-77. The Kings came no closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

“It feels good. I knew all the time we could do it,” Payton said. “We showed a lot of character beating them twice at their place.”

Notes

Richmond, limited to 11 minutes, had averaged 45 minutes in the first three games of the series. … By scoring 101 points, the Sonics became the only team to reach 100 points in a game in the series… . The Kings have lost 11 of their last 13 playoff series… . Nate McMillan was 7 for 9 on 3-pointers in the series for Seattle. … The Sonics, outrebounded 87-55 in the first two games of the series, won the battle on the boards in Games 3 and 4.

SuperSonics 101, Kings 87

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 33 5-13 2-3 3-10 9 2 13 Kemp 33 9-15 5-9 3-8 1 4 23 Johnson 15 1-5 1-1 0-4 0 3 3 Hawkins 23 6-10 2-2 3-4 2 4 17 Payton 41 10-18 5-8 1-6 5 3 29 Perkins 27 2-10 2-2 0-3 1 1 6 Askew 22 1-6 0-0 1-4 0 2 2 McMillan 28 1-1 1-2 1-5 3 1 4 Brickowski 13 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 4 Snow 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Wingate 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Scheffler 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Totals 240 37-82 18-27 12-45 21 23 101 Percentages: FG .451, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 9-23, .391 (Payton 4-5, Hawkins 3-4, Schrempf 1-4, McMillan 1-1, Brickowski 0-2, Askew 0-2, Perkins 0-5).

Team Rebounds: 14.

Blocked shots: 7 (Kemp 3, Schrempf, Johnson, Askew, McMillan),.

Turnovers: 20 (Kemp 4, Payton 3, Brickowski 3, Schrempf 3, Hawkins 2, Johnson, Askew, McMillan, Snow, Scheffler).

Steals: 13 (Kemp 6, McMillan 3, Payton 2, Hawkins, Schrempf).

Technical fouls: Kemp, 1:35 fourth.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb SACRAMENTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Owens 25 2-7 0-0 0-3 2 6 4 Grant 26 6-12 1-2 1-2 0 2 13 Polynice 36 3-8 4-4 1-9 2 3 10 Richmond 11 1-2 3-3 0-0 2 0 5 Edney 37 4-10 5-6 0-3 2 1 14 Simmons 35 9-20 4-5 3-6 3 3 24 Smith 22 2-5 3-6 3-9 1 3 7 Marciulionis 29 2-7 3-4 0-2 2 2 7 Causwell 13 1-2 0-0 0-3 1 2 2 Williamson 2 0-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 Hurley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Gamble 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 30-74 24-31 8-37 15 22 87 Percentages: FG .405, FT .774.

3-Point Goals: 3-12, .250 (Simmons 2-4, Edney 1-2, Richmond 0-1, Causwell 0-1, Marciulionis 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 9.

Blocked shots: 7 (Polynice 3, Smith 2, Simmons, Grant).

Turnovers: 19 (Grant 4, Edney 4, Marciulionis 4, Owens 2, Simmons 2, Causwell 2, Smith).

Steals: 11 (Marciulionis 3, Edney 3, Simmons 2, Smith, Grant, Owens).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, :48 second.

Illegal defense: 1.

Seattle 25 25 27 24 - 101

Sacramento 22 26 21 18 - 87

A-17,317 (17,317). T-2:18.

Officials-Steve Javie, Eddie F. Rush, Ron Garretson