Karl Finds a Big Role for McIlvaine

It’s hard to imagine a man who has played only 15 minutes in the past five playoff games could do anything worth discussing, but the SuperSonics were buzzing about the effort of center Jim McIlvaine in Game 1.

Seattle Coach George Karl had no use for the 7-foot-1 McIlvaine except in garbage time of Game 1 during the first-round series against the small, quick Minnesota Timberwolves. But against Shaquille O’Neal, he returned McIlvaine to the starting lineup.

For the first three minutes, McIlvaine had as many points and rebounds as O’Neal. He also blocked two shots in the first half and hit an open jumper in the second half.

“Mac has always been active, and that’s the way he plays,” Hersey Hawkins said. “I think he understands that he’s not going to get a lot of plays called for him, so when shots go up, he’s hitting the boards. He’s trying to keep the ball alive. He’s blocking shots, and that definitely contributed to our good start.”

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Gary Payton usually talks about as much as he breathes. When it comes to the battle of words between Karl and O’Neal, however, Payton doesn’t have much to say about the topic. It still took him almost a minute to talk about how he won’t talk about it or tell Karl not to talk about it.

“The Sonics don’t pay me to say, ‘Hey, George, shut up,’ ” Payton said. “It’s their job to do that, you know what I’m saying? The Sonics organization does that, not me. My job is to come out there and play basketball for them, not to tell George to shut up. If George wants to talk, let him talk. Let Wally [Walker, the Sonic general manager] go and tell him shut up.”

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Veteran Nate McMillan did not play in Game 1 because of swelling in his surgically repaired right knee and said he will play only if necessary in Game 2.

McMillan, who will retire after the season, missed the first 51 games this season after the surgery and played in only 18 games.

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Payton finished second to Atlanta Hawk center Dikembe Mutombo in the defensive player-of-the year balloting.

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SEATTLE PLAYOFF STATISTICS

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PLAYER FG% FT% REB AST PTS Payton .487 .909 3.2 5.7 25.8 Hawkins .500 .933 6.0 3.5 16.5 Schrempf .514 .880 7.8 4.2 15.8 Baker .551 .409 10.0 1.7 14.2 Kersey .525 1.000 4.9 1.3 8.5 Ellis .323 1.000 1.2 0.8 4.7 Perkins .375 .667 4.2 1.7 4.5 Anthony .296 .286 1.3 1.2 3.7 Wingate .500 .750 1.5 1.0 3.5 McMillan .385 1.000 2.8 2.6 2.6 McIlvaine .250 -- 1.5 0.5 2.0 Williams .000 -- -- -- -- TEAM .470 .793 41.0 22.7 97.7 OPPONENTS .428 .762 38.7 24.0 90.5

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