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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SEATTLE -- This one belonged to Jason Kidd. But the Phoenix Suns' 89-80 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Wednesday night will end up being remembered more for ending Gary Payton's consecutive-games-played streak at 356.
A simmering personality conflict erupted on court as Sonic teammates Payton and Ruben Patterson bickered, argued and nearly came to blows during the loss. At one point, Phoenix point guard Jason Kidd stepped between the two.
|  | | The Suns' Mario Elie looks for some elbow room near Sonics guard Gary Payton. |
The result, according to ESPN.com's Frank Hughes, will be the Sonics announcing later Thursday that Payton has been suspended for at least one game.
After Wednesday night's game, the volatile Payton and coach Nate McMillan were seen
screaming at each other on the way to the locker room, reported ESPN.com's Frank Hughes. And McMillan said he will not tolerate the type of divisive attitudes showed by his two players.
"You can't have that on the floor," McMillan said. "To fight amongst
yourselves is the wrong thing to do. It's the Suns -- those were the guys who
were kicking our butts. Tempers flared, and it can't happen. It just can't
happen. What can you say?
"You've got to stay together. If one person makes a mistake or the other person
makes a mistake, you are wearing the same color uniform. You have to be
supportive of each other."
Kidd outplayed Payton, and the Suns -- beaten by 19 points by
Seattle in Phoenix three nights before -- defeated the Sonics
fairly easily.
Outscored 22-3 by his fellow Olympic gold medalist from this
summer's Sydney Games in the teams' first meeting of the season,
Kidd came back in Seattle with 15 points and seven assists to
Payton's 15 points and six assists. Payton was held to 6-for-24
shooting, mostly on the defense of Mario Elie.
Frustration was likely why Payton blew up at Patterson when Patterson
didn't handle an errant pass by Payton. Payton started yelling at his teammate, and Patterson screamed back. Kidd
eventually stepped between the two.
After the game, Payton did not speak with reporters, instead going into
McMillan's office for a meeting with his coach and former teammate. General
manager Wally Walker exited the office after Payton entered.
When a visibly upset Patterson was asked about the confrontation, he said:
"I don't even want to get into that. I don't even want to speak to that."
"Coming out and winning on the road in the NBA is not easy,"
said Kidd, who took only 10 shots. "We came out and played the
game we were supposed to play in Phoenix. This is a big win for
us."
Rodney Rogers had 17 points, Tony Delk 16 and Clifford Robinson
13 for the Suns, who found out Tuesday that they likely will have
to play the remainder of the season without Penny Hardaway because
of a knee injury.
Phoenix rookie Iakovos Tsakalidis a career-high 12 points.
The Sonics got 19 points each from Patterson and Brent
Barry.
But most of the 17,072 fans at the Key Arena were watching the
Kidd-Payton rivalry.
"I don't mind to see him struggle, especially when we play him,
because he tends to always bring his best game," Kidd said.
It helped for Kidd to have Elie on his side.
"Mario did a great job on him," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles
said. "We made the decision to have Mario match up with Gary, just
to take a little of the burden off Jason. Jason has the burden most
games of guarding the other teams' best guard."
Elie volunteered his services to try to slow down Payton.
"I told the coach, 'Let me try to guard Payton, so Jason can
have enough energy to run the break, so he can free-lance,"' Elie
said. "I thought it worked out pretty well for us."
The Suns opened the fourth quarter with a free throw by Shawn
Marion, a 3-pointer by Tony Delk and a dunk by Tsakalidis for a
72-62 lead.
The Sonics cut their deficit to 79-73 on a three-point play by
Barry with 3:34 on the clock.
Payton's three-point play cut Phoenix's lead to 86-80 with 1:39
to go before Kidd made a 3-pointer with 44.8 seconds on the clock.
After Phoenix committed a 24-second violation with 2:32 to go in
the third quarter, Delk scored a fastbreak layup and hit a
20-footer to give the Suns a 64-57 advantage with 1:49 left in the
period.
The Sonics scored 14 points on 4-for-18 shooting in the third
quarter, when they went from a four-point lead to a four-point
deficit.
Kidd scored eight points in the first quarter as the Suns
grabbed a 24-19 lead. In the second period, Seattle went in front
37-36 on a three-point play by Barry with 4:06 left.
With the score tied at 40, the Sonics scored eight straight
points with Emanuel Davis getting a 3-pointer, Patterson scoring on
a fastbreak layup and Barry sinking a 3-pointer with 1:24 to go in
the first half.
The Sonics find themselves at 21-20 at the halfway point of
their schedule. If the season were to end now, they would miss
the playoffs.
"Every game is important for us," said Nate McMillan, who took
over for the fired Paul Westphal as Seattle's coach Nov. 27.
"We're not in the playoffs. We're not even close to being in the
playoffs."
Baker added, "Phoenix is one of the teams we're playing for the
eighth spot. So this was a disappointing loss for us."
Game notes
The Sonics didn't have guard Shammond Williams (sprained ankle)
available. ... Seattle's Patrick Ewing was held scoreless for the
second time in his 16-year NBA career in a game in which he played
at least 10 minutes. He was held scoreless at Toronto Jan. 7. In 13
minutes, Ewing was 0-for-6 with four rebounds. "It's a long
year," said Ewing, who is averaging 9.05 points, 7.7 rebounds and
26.3 minutes in his first 41 games in Seattle. "Now it's halfway
through. You can't let anything bother you and you have to stay
positive," he said. Ewing is earning $14 million in the final year
of a contract he signed with the New York Knicks.
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Philadelphia 99
Chicago 88
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Charlotte 90
New Jersey 108
Washington 89
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Toronto 98
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Denver 121
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Boston 106
Phoenix 89
Seattle 80
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