Seattle Continues Hot Streak

Now that the Chicago Bulls have lost, the Seattle SuperSonics are the hottest team in the league.

The SuperSonics won their 11th consecutive game and their eighth in a row on the road with a 102-92 victory Sunday over the slumping Knicks at New York.

“Tonight was the most solid basketball game we’ve played in a while. They broke us down a little in the first half, but in the second half I thought our defense wore them out,” Coach George Karl said. “Right now we’re playing very good basketball, but we’re not finished yet.”

The SuperSonics’ trapping defense forced Patrick Ewing into a two for 15 shooting night and caused the Knicks to turn the ball over 21 times--almost equaling their league-leading average of 21.8 per game.

“We only come in here once a year, so you want to leave a lasting impression,” Hersey Hawkins said.

Cleveland 103, Sacramento 74--Terrell Brandon scored 21 points to lead the Cavaliers to their seventh victory in nine games at Cleveland.

Cleveland, which leads the league in fewest points allowed and is holding opponents to 39% shooting for the season, held the Kings to 35% (24 of 68).

Boston 105, Dallas 91--Dana Barros scored 21 points as the Celtics defeated the Mavericks at Boston.

Dino Radja had 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Celtics won for only the third time this year. Chris Gatling led Dallas with 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Jim Jackson also had 23 for the Mavericks.

Miami 87, Phoenix 84--Alonzo Mourning scored 20 points and Dan Majerle made a crucial three-point shot with 7.6 seconds left as the Heat kept the Suns the NBA’s only winless team with the victory at Phoenix.

Robert Horry made a three-point shot with 23 seconds left as the Suns closed to 83-82 only to see Majerle make his shot.

Vancouver 96, San Antonio 91--Rookie Shareef Abdur-Rahim came off the bench to score 18 points at Vancouver and grab nine rebounds as the Grizzlies got their second victory this season.

Abdur-Rahim made two free throws with 50.3 seconds remaining to put Vancouver ahead, 92-90, and two more with 9.7 seconds left.