Seattle Still Unbeaten After 71-56 Rout of Utah

Gary Payton contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday night as the Seattle SuperSonics became the NBA’s lone unbeaten team with a 71-56 victory over the cold-shooting and tired Utah Jazz at Seattle.

The Jazz’s franchise-low 56 points came on a night when Utah made 21 of 68 shots, 30.9%.

The all-time NBA regular-season low of 55 points in the shot-clock era was scored by the Indiana Pacers against the San Antonio Spurs last March 29.

The SuperSonics improved to 6-0 in handing the Jazz their first defeat in seven games. Utah defeated the Sacramento Kings in overtime at Salt Lake City on Monday night and, at times, looked like it was sleepwalking.

Karl Malone led the Jazz with 15 points on four-for-13 shooting. John Stockton made one of seven shots and scored three points.

The Jazz wasn’t helped by the fact that Jeff Hornacek, its starting shooting guard, didn’t make the trip to Seattle because he stayed to attend the funeral of a family friend.

Sacramento 101, Boston 98--Corliss Williamson made a short jump shot in the lane with 7.5 seconds remaining and then made a free throw to complete a three-point play, lifting the Kings at Sacramento.

Miami 89, Indiana 78--P.J. Brown scored a season-high 22 points and Alonzo Mourning added 19 to lift the Heat at Indianapolis.

Houston 109, Phoenix 92--Hakeem Olajuwon had 19 points and 11 rebounds and led a key third-quarter charge at Houston as the Rockets ended the Suns’ nine-game road winning streak.

Atlanta 83, Chicago 67--Steve Smith scored 17 points at Chicago to help the Hawks send the Bulls to their fifth loss in six games--Chicago’s worst start since the 1978-79 season.

New Jersey 97, Detroit 82--Keith Van Horn scored a career-high 35 points to lead the Nets at East Rutherford, N.J.

Milwaukee 93, Philadelphia 92--Glenn Robinson made an 18-foot jump shot with one-tenth of a second remaining to lift the Bucks at Philadelphia.

Cleveland 90, Orlando 78--Shawn Kemp scored 18 points and Vitaly Potapenko, starting for injured center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, had 16 for the Cavaliers at Cleveland.

Ilgauskas, who has twice been sidelined because a broken right foot, is experiencing soreness in his left foot and will undergo further tests today.

New York 95, Toronto 85--Allan Houston scored 20 points to lead the Knicks at New York.

The Raptors’ Charles Oakley, still upset over the trade that ended his 10-year Knick career, criticized the organization before the game and then stood off to the side and refused to shake hands with any of the Knicks before the opening tipoff.