Sonics’ Finals Party Is Crashed by the Opportunistic Jazz, 98-95

To: The local who set up camp Monday outside the Seattle SuperSonics’ office to be the first in line to buy tickets today for the NBA finals.

From: The Utah Jazz.

Re: Send for clean underwear.

On the brink of reaching the championship series for the first time since 1979, the SuperSonics went about the little matter of actually clinching the Western Conference title Tuesday night, then found the celebration would be postponed. They saw to that themselves--with a little help from visitors who crashed the party--by committing four turnovers in the game’s final five possessions and losing to the Jazz, 98-95, in overtime before 17,072 at KeyArena.

Given the chance to open the finals on Friday night at Chicago, the SuperSonics, now clinging to a 3-2 lead, will instead play a Game 6 at Salt Lake City on Thursday. And some guy sleeping on the cement will pray it doesn’t rain in the meantime.

“I try not to read the newspapers,” Karl Malone of the Jazz said after getting a team-high 29 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in what he called one of the best victories in his 11-year career. “But it’s hard not to see the headlines--’Jazz Are Done, Stick a Fork in Them’ and all that. Well, we’re not done yet. We’re still cooking.”

Said SuperSonic Coach George Karl: It showed the class of Utah. You’ve got to give them credit for what they did. Now we’ve got to go and give them a battle Thursday and show them our class.”

Exactly what Jazz players did was not clear even to their coach, Jerry Sloan. He saw the SuperSonics come from a five-point deficit in the final 1:35 of regulation to force overtime, then watched every Seattle player except Gary Payton become tentative under the pressure, leaving it to Payton to score in two of the first three possessions of the overtime to keep the game even.

Then Sloan watched the SuperSonics implode.

“Our defense is not very good,” he said. “I never really give our team a lot of credit for defense. I think they just turned the ball over.”

In description or fact, that was the bottom line. Five trips downcourt after the Jazz had taken a 97-95 lead when John Stockton, suffering through another disappointing game while going one of six from the field with six turnovers, made two free throws with 2:25 remaining. Three shots. No makes. Four turnovers.

Problems began right after Stockton’s free throws. Gary Payton couldn’t control Hersey Hawkins’ bad pass.

The next possession, Detlef Schrempf missed a hook in the lane, got his own rebound and traveled. The one after that, Payton threw the ball away.

Still down by two points because Utah had failed to take advantage, the SuperSonics called timeout with 18 seconds left. When play resumed, Schrempf’s pass from out of bounds to Payton sailed high and wide right. Payton was able to get a hand on it, but Stockton controlled the ball.

About nine seconds elapsed before the SuperSonics decided to foul to stop the clock. But they had one to give, so the Jazz got to in-bound the ball and run off a few more ticks before Seattle fouled again. Finally, Jeff Hornacek, en route to 27 points in another standout showing in the series, went to the line with 7.8 showing and made one of two.

It was 98-95. The SuperSonics called timeout. Now the Jazz had a foul to give, but didn’t use it, instead taking a gamble and allowing Seattle to run its play. Payton went for the straight-away three-point shot with about two seconds left.

A make would have forced a second overtime. But the miss, off the heel of the rim, forced a Game 6.

That Payton would take the shot was hardly a surprise. He looked like the only Sonic not afraid to. At least Schrempf had an excuse--he had two turnovers, two fouls and two misses in the overtime.

“We got a little tentative at the end,” said Payton, who had 31 points. “I don’t know what the problem was.”

Themselves, perhaps.

“It just seemed like everybody froze up at one point,” he said. “We don’t need that. We didn’t play smart or good at the end.”

Because of it, this really wasn’t the end.