SuperSonics Cool Off the Heat

Gary Payton was so worried about his shooting slump that he hoisted the biggest shot of the game from 27 feet--and made it.

Payton’s three-point basket in overtime helped the visiting Seattle SuperSonics end Miami’s 10-game winning streak with a 97-91 victory over the Heat on Tuesday.

Seattle won its fifth in a row and ended the longest winning streak in the NBA.

“It was a painful loss, an excruciating loss,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “This game came down to two teams flailing away at the end. Sooner or later somebody was going to make one or two shots.”

It was the SuperSonics.

Payton, only three for 13 shooting for 12 points, moved Seattle ahead, 91-89, with 2:39 left.

“I just hoisted it up there and it went in,” Payton said.

A minute later, Payton drove the lane and passed to Detlef Schrempf for a baseline jumper. Hersey Hawkins finished off the Heat with a hook shot to make it 95-89 with 21.2 seconds left.

The SuperSonics had rallied from an 83-78 deficit in the final five minutes of regulation as Miami missed its last 10 shots in the fourth.

Hawkins and Schrempf each had 18 points for Seattle. Alonzo Mourning and Voshon Lenard scored 20 apiece for Miami.

Dallas 110, Minnesota 99--Cedric Ceballos scored 22 points at Minneapolis as the Mavericks won their second road game in four nights.

Shawn Bradley, replaced in the starting lineup by Dallas rookie Chris Antsey, responded by coming off the bench for 16 points five blocked shots.

Kevin Garnett had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves.

Indiana 111, Vancouver 103--Rik Smits scored 26 points to lead the visiting Pacers to a victory over the Grizzlies.

The Pacers led, 91-78, with 6:23 left, but the Grizzlies cut it to 108-103 on Pete Chilcutt’s three-point basket with 15 seconds left before running out of time in losing their seventh in a row.

Reggie Miller scored 20 points for Indiana before being ejected after his second technical foul with 1:36 left.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim led Vancouver with 27 points.

New York 94, New Jersey 91--Larry Johnson scored 23 points and Charles Oakley grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds at New York as the Knicks shot 20 for 22 from the foul line in improving to 9-2 since the All-Star break.

New Jersey, losing for the sixth time in eight games, lost all-star center Jayson Williams because of a pulled abdominal muscle. His status was not known.

Portland 98, Phoenix 93--Isaiah Rider scored 33 points, including a crucial four-point play with 3:59 left, as the Trail Blazers survived the second-quarter loss of Damon Stoudamire because of a sprained ankle at Portland, Ore.

The Blazers led by as many as 22 in the second quarter but turned sluggish without Stoudamire as the Suns made it close behind Jason Kidd (23 points) and Danny Manning (15 points).

Utah 108, Toronto 93--Shandon Anderson scored a career-high 26 points and Bryon Russell added 21 to lead a 55-point bench barrage as the Jazz defeated the Raptors at Toronto.

Chicago 118, Denver 90--Michael Jordan scored 30 at Chicago as the Bulls led by only three points late in the third quarter before routing the NBA’s losingest team.

NBA Notes

Tom Gugliotta, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ leading scorer, underwent tests in New York to prepare for surgery today on his right ankle to shave away painful bone spurs and remove any bone chips.