Seattle’s Wait Is Over With the Jazz in Town

Fate has put another playoff obstacle in front of the Seattle SuperSonics, and it’s not themselves for a change.

By the time the Western Conference finals against the Utah Jazz begin today at 12:30 at KeyArena, the favored SuperSonics will have gone five days since last playing, more than enough time to lose their edge from having swept Houston. More than enough time for Coach George Karl, among others, to fret about being rusted instead of rested.

“We’ve been waiting too long,” guard Gary Payton said. “We’ve been sitting around for the last five days. We’ve been seeing a lot of film, getting a lot of looks at everything. We’re ready to go.”

The Jazz come in about 36 hours after eliminating San Antonio on Thursday night, this being its third game in as many cities and seventh game in 12 days.

The contrast of situations is met by a contrast of styles: Seattle, the team that wants to run, against Utah, the team that lives on half-court sets. It resulted in a 3-1 edge for the SuperSonics during the regular season, but the Jazz won the first game by 18 points and then lost the next three by one, two and nine points.

Detlef Schrempf was the big difference, averaging 21.5 points at small forward and giving the SuperSonics their only edge in the matchups. He’s too big and too strong for the athletic David Benoit, so Adam Keefe, who played well as a reserve against the Spurs, may get considerable time.

The other showdowns:

Seattle’s Ervin Johnson vs. Felton Spencer at center: Johnson may pull some stretches against Karl Malone.

Shawn Kemp vs. Malone at power forward: Maybe it won’t be such a mega-showdown between two of the best at the position. During the regular season, Malone averaged 23.3 points in the four games and held Kemp to 11.3 points and 37% shooting. Kemp also fouled out once and had five fouls in another meeting.

Seattle’s Hersey Hawkins vs. Jeff Hornacek: Two shooters who will make defenses pay for double teaming. Hornacek, especially valuable because he provides an extra dependable ballhandler against the SuperSonics’ lethal press, is 65.6% on three-point shots in the playoffs.

Payton vs. John Stockton at point guard: Two of the three best true point guards in the business--which excludes Michael Jordan and includes Penny Hardaway--go head to head. They played to a standoff during the regular season.