Gill Gets Mad, Even With Karl, SuperSonics

Kendall Gill opened a door for the Lakers and closed one on his past.

Gill, who earlier this week rid himself of two years of frustration by blasting George Karl, scored 24 points against his former team and coach Wednesday night, lifting the New Jersey Nets to a 110-101 victory over Seattle at East Rutherford, N.J.

Gill had called Karl a coward, saying he disliked him so much in Seattle that he wanted to fight him. He was eventually traded to Charlotte and then to the Nets last season.

“I said what I said. I got it off my chest and it’s a closed case now,” said Gill, who had 11 points in the final quarter. “I turned the emotion totally off. I just tried to play an easy game and let things come to me. This wasn’t a great win for me, it was a great win for our team.”

It was only the fifth for the Nets, and it set the stage for the Lakers to take over the lead in the Pacific Division with their 79-76 victory over Indiana.

Before the game, Karl refused to be drawn into a controversy with Gill, who played two seasons in Seattle. After the game, he said the Nets simply shot better.

“We’re just not making our shots,” he said. “Matter of fact, we haven’t shot well all year. We just have to keep playing and keep shooting. We had a lot of mental breakdowns, and those and their great shooting adds up to them winning.”

Kerry Kittles added 20 points and Robert Pack finished with 19 points--including eight in a row to put the Nets ahead for good--and 12 assists for New Jersey, which beat a team with a plus-.500 record for the first time since February, a streak of 25 games.

“We’ve talked a lot about breaking barriers with this team and there are a lot of barriers to break,” Net Coach John Calipari said. “This was a barrier for us because we beat a team--a winning team that played for the championship--and they weren’t even coming off a back-to-back.”

Detlef Schrempf had 30 points for the SuperSonics, who lost for the fourth time in six games after opening the season 14-3. Shawn Kemp added 19 points and 12 rebounds, but didn’t score in the final quarter.

Seattle rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit with a 15-0 run, tying the game, 77-77, on an alley-oop dunk by Kemp.

Pack then came to the rescue, hitting two jump shots in the lane to put New Jersey ahead, 81-77, at the end of the quarter. He added two driving layups at the start of the fourth quarter and Gill made two free throws to stretch the lead to 87-77 with 10:41 to go.

The SuperSonics got as close as 91-88 on a driving layup by Craig Ehlo with 8:32 to go, but Gill hit a jump shot and converted a three-point play to send Seattle to only its fourth road loss in 14 games.

Boston 115, Toronto 113--Rick Fox scored 24 points and made a three-point shot at the buzzer to win in Boston in only the third triple-overtime game the Celtics have played in their 50-year history, and the first since 1967.

Sharone Wright made a jump shot in the lane with 45 seconds left to give the Raptors a 111-110 lead, but Fox’s two free throws with 31 seconds left put Boston ahead, 112-111. Wright answered with a layup with 18.9 seconds left to put Toronto back on top, 113-112, and set up the final sequence.

The Celtics set up Dana Barros for a three-point shot from the right corner that missed, but Dino Radja grabbed the offensive rebound and passed out to Fox for the game-winner.

Chicago 103, Minnesota 86--Michael Jordan had 11 of his 27 points in the third quarter, when the Bulls outscored the Timberwolves, 31-12, and blew open the game in Chicago.

Scottie Pippen scored eight of his 26 points in the period, and the Bulls ended a two-game losing streak without the rebounding of suspended forward Dennis Rodman.

Charlotte 101, Denver 97--The Hornets got 25 points and 21 rebounds from Anthony Mason in a victory in their first home game after a franchise-record seven-game trip.

Dell Curry put Charlotte--which played without center Vlade Divac, sidelined because of flu--ahead to stay on a three-point basket with 35 seconds to play, helping send the Nuggets to their eighth consecutive loss.

Miami 84, Philadelphia 79--Tim Hardaway drove past Allen Iverson for a layup that gave the Heat the lead for good with 26.4 seconds to play at Philadelphia.

Hardaway scored 21 points and Alonzo Mourning had 20 points and 17 rebounds for Miami, which has won 10 in a row on the road.

Iverson missed 15 of 17 shots and finished with only eight points and six assists.

Washington 106, Cleveland 95--Juwan Howard had 25 points for the Bullets at Landover, Md., where they held Cleveland to five baskets in the second quarter and became only the second team to reach 100 points against the Cavaliers this season.