|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME FLOW
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Seattle coach Nate McMillan never lost faith
in his team. Not even after it blew a 21-point lead in just nine
minutes.
|  | | Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal, right, tries to draw the charge from Sonics forward Jelani McCoy. |
McMillan waited for his team to respond and, finally, Rashard
Lewis did. Lewis' back-to-back baskets late in the game and three
free throws from Shammond Williams in the final 19 seconds allowed
Seattle to hold off Indiana 86-83 Friday night.
"A 20-point lead is hard to play with," McMillan said. "They
got hot, drew some fouls and hit some free throws. They got their
stops and it's hard to play with that lead, but we responded and
pulled it out."
Lewis finished with 18 points and Gary Payton had 26 points and
10 assists to lead Seattle to its second straight road victory.
But it proved more difficult than most anybody, including
McMillan, could have imagined after three quarters.
"I thought their quickness really gave us some problems," said
Thomas, whose team was without backup point guard Travis Best
because of a back injury. "We didn't really have any quickness to
match up with them when they went small."
Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
Seattle, which entered the fourth quarter with a seemingly
comfortable 73-52 lead, couldn't make a basket, couldn't get a
defensive stop, couldn't get anything to go right.
"It reminded me of some old games I've played against this
team," Patrick Ewing said. "When I was with the Knicks there were
several times when we were up big only to have the Pacers come back
and pull out a victory."
For a while, it appeared as if that scenario just might play out
again.
The Pacers opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run, the last
points coming on Reggie Miller's 15-footer. That got the Pacers
within 73-62 and forced an animated McMillan to call timeout.
Indiana scored five more points, and after Seattle finally ended
a 4:38 scoring drought, the Pacers used a 10-1 run to tie the score
at 79 with 3:02 to go.
Then, McMillan told his team to bear down.
"Coach told us to tighten up our defense and our offense would
take care of itself and that's what happened," Lewis said. "Coach
also talked about keeping our composure."
Lewis heeded the advice and hit the next two baskets, Williams
hit the free throws and when Miller and Jermaine O'Neal missed
game-tying 3-pointers in the closing seconds, the SuperSonics had
survived.
"We knew Miller was going to take that shot, we knew they were
going to try and make a switch," Payton said. "I stayed on him
and made him take an off-balance shot."
Jalen Rose led Indiana with 24 points, while Miller added 20.
Game notes
Miller's basket with 9:17 left moved him past Bob Pettit
and into 22nd place on the NBA's career scoring list. ... Seattle
forward Vin Baker did not play because of a contusion on his left
hand. McMillan said he expected Baker to play Sunday against
Minnesota. ... The officials called four techinical fouls in the
first nine minutes of the game and five technicals in the first
half. They also called Indiana's Al Harrington for a flagrant foul
in the first half.
 Send this story to a friend
|
|
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Seattle Clubhouse
Indiana Clubhouse
RECAPS
Seattle 86
Indiana 83
Philadelphia 107
Washington 102
Charlotte 105
Atlanta 99
Boston 103
Utah 99
Orlando 120
Cleveland 94
Toronto 107
New Jersey 90
Miami 97
Detroit 93
Chicago 81
New York 72
Minnesota 89
Denver 71
LA Clippers 88
Sacramento 81
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Gary Payton has a hot hand in the first quarter for the Sonics.
avi: 479 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jermaine O'Neal has issues with Gary Payton's attempt to score.
avi: 357 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
