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Friday, Jan. 26 10:30pm ET
Payton sizes up win: 'We got lucky'

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- For the Seattle SuperSonics, success without trouble just doesn't seem possible this season.

Antawn Jamison, Patrick Ewing
Sonics center Patrick Ewing, right tries to strong-arm the Warriors' Antawn Jamison for a rebound.

After playing their way into plenty of adversity on Friday night, two tremendous plays in the final second pulled the Sonics away from the edge of collapse.

Rashard Lewis dunked with one second left, and Ruben Patterson blocked Marc Jackson's layup attempt as time expired to give the Sonics their fourth straight win, a dramatic 107-105 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

"We got lucky today," said Gary Payton, who had 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while playing in front of family in his hometown. "We should have beaten this team a little better than we did."

Seattle blew two fourth-quarter leads and allowed scrappy Golden State to claw back into the game, but the Sonics hung on to beat the Warriors for the sixth straight time.

It was just the latest crazy day for the Sonics, who have two four-game winning streaks in the last three weeks and are somehow thriving despite troubles with everything from Payton's bad attitude to Vin Baker's ability to ingest caffeine.

Golden State scored six consecutive points to tie the game at 105 in the final minute, but Mookie Blaylock missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left. When the Warriors crashed the boards, Payton grabbed a tipped ball and passed upcourt to Lewis, who slammed home the last of his 15 points.

"They got a long rebound. It was one of those bounces that kills you and drives you wacky," Golden State coach Dave Cowens said.

On the final play, Antawn Jamison lobbed the ball to Jackson down low, but Patterson flew across the key to block his shot.

"He seemed to come out of nowhere," said Jackson, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds. "It was a great athletic play."

"Once he caught it, I timed my jump and went up when he went to the glass," Patterson said. "I guess it was a great block."

Brent Barry had a season-high 22 points -- including six 3-pointers -- for the Sonics, who also got 15 from Patterson.

Blaylock had nine of his season-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and hit five 3-pointers for Golden State, while Jamison had 22 points and 15 rebounds as the Warriors lost for just the second time in five games.

Though they couldn't finish it, Golden State's stirring last-minute rally had the Oakland Arena crowd on its feet.

"It was there for us to finish it," said Larry Hughes, who had 16 points and 10 assists while making several big defensive plays. "One more bounce was all we needed."

Golden State rallied twice in the fourth quarter, first with a 15-5 run that gave the Warriors their first lead with 3:16 left. After Seattle went up 105-99 with 1:12 left, Blaylock hit a 3-pointer before Hughes stole a pass, hit a layup and converted the foul shot with 46.8 seconds left.

"They made some big shots and some big plays," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "We just made one play bigger than them. There's no question we were lucky to get this. We were loose with the game, and we can't play that way if we want to be close with the other teams in the Western Conference."

Baker, who was hospitalized in Los Angeles on Wednesday night after a bad reaction to a caffeinated drink, had eight points and six rebounds off the bench. Payton, who was suspended for a game last week after fighting with McMillan, carried on a game-long conversation with courtside hecklers.

Seattle beat Golden State for the 17th time in their last 19 meetings. The Sonics (25-21) also improved to a season-best four games over .500.

The Warriors had just nine players in uniform after Friday's trade that sent Vinny Del Negro to Phoenix for Corie Blount, Paul McPherson and Ruben Garces.

Game notes
After flirting with returns to the lineup for two weeks, Adonal Foyle finally came back after missing 19 games with a stress fracture in his right leg. He had four points. ... The Warriors served cold sandwiches and potato chips in the pregame buffets in accordance with California Gov. Gray Davis' call for energy conservation because of the Golden State's power woes.... Hughes came off the bench for the second straight game after missing seven games with a sprained thumb. After he missed a layup with six minutes left that could have cut Seattle's lead to two, he walked to the other end of the court and banged his head against the basket support.


ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard

Seattle Clubhouse

Golden State Clubhouse


RECAPS
Philadelphia 105
Detroit 89

Washington 106
Atlanta 99

Boston 99
Phoenix 83

Houston 106
Vancouver 89

Seattle 107
Golden State 105

LA Lakers 113
New Jersey 101

FROM
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Antawn Jamison Official Site


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