Jazz Quickly Delivers Reality for SuperSonics

On Friday night, the Seattle SuperSonics humbled the Lakers at the Great Western Forum by beating them in overtime.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Just ask the SuperSonics.

Twenty-four hours later, they had the same feeling after losing on their own homecourt at Seattle where the Utah Jazz beat them, 111-91. It was only Seattle’s third loss in 23 home games.

Utah’s Karl Malone scored 34 points and Jeff Hornacek added 22 as the Jazz won their fourth in a row.

Malone, last year’s league most valuable player, shot 14 for 23 from the floor and scored 17 points in the third quarter when the Jazz pulled away.

Gary Payton led the SuperSonics with 23 points and 10 assists, but Vin Baker, Seattle’s other all-star, was held to 10 points and three rebounds.

The SuperSonics, the league’s top three-point shooting team, were five for 22 from behind the arc.

Seattle, which still has the league’s best record at 39-11, was playing its fourth game in five nights.

Vancouver 110, Washington 108--By winning in overtime at Vancouver, the Grizzlies not only broke a seven-game losing streak, but matched their win total for all of last season. At 14-37, the third-year Grizzlies are also only one victory shy of their total for their first season of existence.

Bryant Reeves scored six of his 22 points in overtime for the Grizzlies, who won despite committing 23 turnovers that led to 33 Wizard points.

Vancouver’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

The hobbling Wizards, who have missed 179-man games to injury this season, were forced to go with only nine players Saturday night.

Calbert Cheaney scored 24 points to lead Washington.

Rod Strickland, the NBA assists leader, scored 22 points and had 17 assists.

New York Nets 105, Philadelphia 98--Sam Cassell didn’t let his cold-shooting teammates get him down.

Cassell had 30 points at Philadelphia, including a tough baseline jumper in the final minute, to help the Nets win their fourth in a row, despite a career-high 27 points from the 76ers’ Tim Thomas.

All-star forward Jayson Williams had 17 points and 24 rebounds for New Jersey.

Cassell was 14 for 25 from the field. The rest of the Nets were a dismal 26 for 77 (34%).

But several of his teammates made key contributions to the victory. Kerry Kittles, two for 10 in the first half, scored 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Kendall Gill, 0 for 5 through three quarters, made a pair of key three-point shots down the stretch.

Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson had 26 points before being ejected with 15.7 seconds left after getting a second technical foul after arguing an out-of-bounds call. Teammate Derrick Coleman added 18 points and 16 rebounds.

The Sixers had 19 turnovers in their eighth loss in nine games.

Indiana 96, Atlanta 92--Reggie Miller scored 31 points at Atlanta where the Pacers held the Hawks without a field goal for almost nine minutes of the fourth quarter.

Dikembe Mutombo led the Hawks with 25 points and 18 rebounds and Alan Henderson added 24 points.

Atlanta’s Steve Smith had 19 points, but none after the 3:14 mark of the third quarter. He fouled out with 3:32 left in the game.

“You just have to laugh this one off,” Smith said. “Sometimes I get upset. This one, I’m not.”

Phoenix 94, San Antonio 81--The Spurs’ towering trio was no match for Jason Kidd.

The Phoenix point guard tied his season-high with 29 points and also had 10 rebounds and five assists as Phoenix won for the eighth time in 11 games.

The Spurs started 7-footers David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Will Perdue on the front line, appearing to have the Suns overmatched. But Robinson did not play in the second half because of tendinitis in his right knee. He had 10 points and six rebounds.

Duncan had 30 points and 11 rebounds, but was held scoreless over the final 5:25. Perdue had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The Spurs could have used Robinson when Phoenix pulled away with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee 99, Cleveland 93--Even without their floor leader, the Bucks still emphasized the extra pass and solid defense at Cleveland.

That time-tested combination, along with 27 points by Glenn Robinson and 25 by Ray Allen, enabled the team to break a three-game losing streak.

“We forced them into some bad shots and used the extra pass to get ourselves some good ones,” Allen said.

Allen, a second-year guard, got more playing time because veteran Terrell Brandon was placed on the injured list Friday because of a sprained left ankle.

“Ray had to handle the ball a lot and did a good job,” Buck Coach Chris Ford said. “Our entire team took tremendous care of the basketball. We only had 11 turnovers and did a good job of shutting down their big guns.”

It was the Cavaliers’ third consecutive loss at Gund Arena and their fourth defeat in five games overall.

Cleveland’s starting front line of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and forwards Shawn Kemp and Cedric Henderson totaled 22 points--19 under their combined average. Henderson was held scoreless by Robinson.

Bob Sura led Cleveland with a career-high 30 points on 10-for-17 shooting in 30 minutes.