Sonics Hit Second Wind Seattle Solves Houston, 100-94

It was so quiet in the Seattle SuperSonics’ locker room beforehand, an observer wondered if he hadn’t stumbled into a church.

A wake, certainly, seemed in the offing a few hours down the road.

But the quietness, Seattle forward Sam Perkins said, was born of concentration and not desperation. That became evident the moment the Sonics hit the floor at The Summit on Tuesday night and began badgering the Houston Rockets with an intensity they seem to save for when it’s needed most.

Seattle staved off elimination in the NBA Western Conference semifinals with a 100-94 win in Game 5 to narrow Houston’s series lead to 3-2 and set up Game 6 Thursday night at KeyArena.

“I don’t think there was anybody here who thought we were going to lie down,” said Sonics forward Detlef Schrempf. “If people thought we were going to come in here and give up the game, they don’t know us very well.”

Indeed, the Sonics are now 3-0 in loser-out games this year and 6-1 the past two years.

“I don’t think they knew the level it takes to close a team out,” a dejected Rudy Tomjanovich said of his Houston team. “The level of play it takes to close out a team that has pride is gigantic. When a team is fighting for its life, you have to be at the top of your game.”

Houston certainly wasn’t, shooting a team playoff low 38.5 percent (30 of 78) against Seattle’s determined defense, and making only 5 of 27 3-point attempts (18.5 percent), also a playoff low.

Most glaring was the 1-for-7 effort of Houston point guard Matt Maloney, who had been the star of his team’s Game 4 win in Seattle on Sunday with 26 points and eight 3-pointers.

But Gary Payton asked Seattle coach George Karl to guard Maloney for the first time this series in Game 5, and Payton shackled the rookie guard, forcing him into a 0-for-6 night from the 3-point line.

Rockets players, however, said their problems ran much deeper than Maloney or Mario Elie (0 for 8, two points).

“We showed no effort defensively,” said Houston forward Charles Barkley. “They kicked our butt. I’m embarrassed about the way we played. When you are up 3-1, you should come out and finish them off. But they came out like they were up 3-1 and wanted to finish us off.”

Close. But most Sonics said they simply approached the game as just one game, and didn’t worry about the series standing.

When asked about the Sonics’ prospects of coming back and winning the series, Perkins said, “That sounds like too much. Slow down. You take them one at a time and see what happens.”

But slow down is exactly what the Sonics didn’t do.

Instead, they unleashed a half-court defensive trap designed to take the Rockets out of their offense. And Seattle ran as often as possible, especially in the first half, which they felt was crucial to the game.

Seattle players said they had to get an early lead and not let the Rockets gain confidence. And the Sonics did just that, racing out to a 19-9 lead barely 7 minutes into the game.

Seattle went on a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter to take command for good, keyed by a 3-pointer and a steal and lay-in by Hersey Hawkins in the span of 14 seconds. Hawkins led the Sonics with 23 points, taking advantage of two new plays the team put in for him at practice Monday.

SuperSonics 100, Rockets 94

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 38 6-11 3-5 1-2 2 3 15 Kemp 33 8-15 4-4 4-10 3 5 20 Perkins 36 1-6 5-6 1-3 1 4 8 Hawkins 44 8-15 3-3 1-6 2 1 23 Payton 45 8-17 5-8 2-6 11 3 21 Cummings 16 1-1 3-4 1-5 1 3 5 Wingate 13 1-4 1-1 0-0 0 1 3 McIlvaine 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Snow 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 Stewart 5 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 5 Totals 240 35-73 24-31 10-32 21 25 100 Percentages: FG .479, FT .774.

3-Point Goals: 6-18, .333 (Hawkins 4-7, Stewart 1-1, Perkins 1-4, Payton 0-1, Schrempf 0-2, Wingate 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 14.

Blocked shots: 2 (Kemp 2).

Turnovers: 9 (Schrempf 3, Kemp 3, Payton 2, Stewart).

Steals: 6 (Hawkins 2, Schrempf, Kemp, Perkins, Payton).

Technical foul: Payton, :31.8 first.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb HOUSTON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Elie 38 0-8 2-3 2-2 6 2 2 Barkley 39 6-18 5-6 9-20 1 2 17 Olajuwon 42 12-18 7-10 4-16 3 3 31 Drexler 42 9-16 5-8 4-5 1 4 26 Maloney 26 1-7 0-0 0-1 2 3 2 Willis 15 0-3 1-2 0-0 1 4 1 Threatt 22 0-3 0-0 0-0 3 5 0 Johnson 16 2-5 9-9 1-2 0 0 15 Totals 240 30-78 29-38 20-46 17 23 94 Percentages: FG .385, FT .763.

3-Point Goals: 5-27, .185 (Drexler 3-7, Johnson 2-3, Threatt 0-1, Olajuwon 0-1, Barkley 0-4, Elie 0-5, Maloney 0-6).

Team Rebounds: 10.

Blocked shots: 1 (Elie).

Turnovers: 11 (Maloney 4, Drexler 3, Olajuwon 2, Barkley, Willis).

Steals: 9 (Drexler 3, Barkley 3, Olajuwon 2, Threatt).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

Seattle 27 30 22 21 - 100

Houston 19 33 19 23 - 94

A-16,285 (16,285). T-2:18.