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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PHOENIX (AP) -- This matchup of perhaps the two best point guards
in the NBA was no contest.
|  | | Rodney Rogers must help his Suns head the Sonics -- and Nuggets --- off at the pass in the pursuit of the playoffs. |
Neither was the game.
Gary Payton outscored Jason Kidd 22-3 Sunday night as the
Seattle SuperSonics scored the first 14 points of the game and
raced to their fourth straight victory, 106-87 over the Phoenix
Suns.
With the two teams meeting again Wednesday night in Seattle,
Payton was not about to gloat.
"Everybody has games like that. You can't have 82 good games.
It's not going to happen," Payton said. "He might come back on
Wednesday and give me the same game and I might have a bad game. He
just wasn't there tonight. It happens."
Ruben Patterson added 25 points and 10 rebounds for Seattle,
which led 59-40 at halftime. Payton said it's the kind of game the
Sonics need from Patterson all the time.
"If he plays like this all the time, we'll be a better
basketball team," Payton said. "Two weeks ago he wasn't playing
like this. He was worried about too much other stuff. Now he's just
going out there and playing and flowing."
Following the Sonics' quick start, Phoenix never was closer than
six.
Payton, 9-for-22 from the field, also had nine rebounds and six
assists. Kidd, whose only points came on a 3-pointer with 10:33 to
play, went 1-for-7 on field goals, adding nine assists and five
rebounds.
Rashard Lewis had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Patrick Ewing
11 points and 11 rebounds as Seattle dominated the boards 58-40.
"Unbelievable," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "To have 17
offensive rebounds in the first half -- it just showed that we were
live."
Seattle had a 23-14 advantage on the offensive boards.
"At times it seemed like they had eight guys on the boards and
we had two," the Suns' Cliff Robinson said.
Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said the rebounding was the obvious
difference, but not the only one.
"They dominated us in pretty much every aspect of the game,"
Skiles said.
Robinson scored 22 of his 33 points in the second half for the
Suns. Shawn Marion added 16.
The game showcased Phoenix's inconsistency this season. Just a
day earlier, they won 103-86 at Dallas.
"We looked like two different teams," Kidd said. "Everything
went our way last night, and tonight we came out flat."
The Suns outscored the Sonics 21-7 to start the third quarter.
Robinson scored 12 in the run, including a 3-pointer that cut the
lead to 66-61 with 4:32 to play in the third. But Seattle responded
with a 13-2 spurt, the last nine by Lewis, to make it 79-63 with
1:30 to go in the quarter.
Payton sank a 3-pointer and a 16-footer to start the fourth
quarter and Seattle led 86-67 with 11:03 to go. Phoenix never got
the lead below 10 after that.
Ewing, in one of his best quarters for the Sonics, had nine
points and seven rebounds in the opening 10 minutes.
Phoenix narrowed its deficit to 32-24 on Penny Hardaway's
3-pointer with 7:58 left in the half. The Sonics outscored the Suns
27-16 the rest of the second quarter.
Game notes
The Suns activated Mario Elie (broken left hand) and placed
Daniel Santiago on the injured list (plantar fasciitis on left
foot). ... In the first quarter, Phoenix missed its first 11 shots,
shot 25 percent (4-for-15) and was outrebounded 25-11, 14-4 on the
offensive boards.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Seattle Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 107
Charlotte 99
Portland 103
Detroit 96
Miami 90
Chicago 81
Seattle 106
Phoenix 87
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