Houston, Elie Foil Seattle’s Strategy

HOUSTON — The Seattle SuperSonics wanted to double-team Hakeem Olajuwon and dare Houston’s outside shooters to beat them.

Mario Elie took the challenge personally.

Elie led Houston’s long-range shooting barrage by making all five of his three-point shots and the Rockets held off the SuperSonics, 112-102, Monday night in the opener of their best-of-seven second-round series.

“They left me open, I guess they didn’t respect me,” Elie said. “I guess they haven’t been watching TV. If they keep doubling our big guys, we’ll keep firing.”

The Rockets came in with five days rest after sweeping Minnesota, while Seattle finished up a rough five-game series against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

Houston opened a 27-point lead at 103-76 with 10:07 left but the Sonics wouldn’t go quietly. Hersey Hawkins made four three-point baskets in a row during a final 26-9 run, but it was too late to catch the Rockets.

“They feed off defense,” Rocket forward Charles Barkley said. “Bad shots and turnovers is what they look for. That’s what was happening tonight when they came back.

“They want you to shoot threes. They think you can’t hit enough threes to beat them. That’s their philosophy and it evens out over time.”

Elie, who finished with 20 points, got the Rockets started by making all five of his three-point attempts in the first half to match a playoff record. The Rockets hit 10 of 15 three-pointers for a 64-55 halftime lead.

“I can’t tell in a game if there is fatigue, sometimes you can see it in film,” Seattle Coach George Karl said. “With our defense, you can’t hesitate. You have to be crisp. I think our reactions were a little down.”

Elie tied the record for number of three-pointers without a miss shared by three players, most recently by Seattle’s Nate McMillan against the Rockets on May 6, 1996.

“If we keep moving the ball like we did tonight, we’ll keep getting open threes,” Elie said. “You have to credit our big guys that I was wide open.”

Clyde Drexler led the Rockets with 22 points and Shawn Kemp paced the SuperSonics with 24.

“After halftime we were just trying to make them keep up that fast pace,” Kemp said. “We just got manhandled out there tonight. It is just one game and we have to go back to work in Game 2.”

Seattle is the only team to beat a Rudy Tomjanovich-coached Houston team in a playoff series.

“I’m very happy with the results and our intensity,” said Tomjanovich, whose teams are 16-0 in playoff series when they wins the first game. “Our defense played great and on offense, we executed and shot the ball well.”