Grant Helps SuperSonics Stay Unbeaten at Home

The SuperSonics brought Horace Grant to Seattle for his rebounding and interior defense. Grant did even more Sunday night.

Grant had 23 points and 11 rebounds as Seattle remained undefeated at home with a 102-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

“The top of the key is my money shot,” Grant said. “I had to learn how to shoot the ball when I was in Orlando with Shaq and teams double-teamed him a lot.

The SuperSonic starting center was 10 for 17 from the field and victimized some of the Pacers’ bigger players on the pick and roll.

“We figured Horace [Grant] would be open a lot if we set screens because some of their bigger players don’t have good speed, [Rik] Smits has a hard time covering the pick and roll,” SuperSonic Coach Paul Westphal said.

Gary Payton scored 31 points and added eight assists and eight rebounds as the SuperSonics beat the Pacers for the third straight time. Indiana shot a season-low 35% on 32-for-91 shooting.

The Sonics, 6-0 at home, opened the third quarter with a 19-6 burst and were up, 85-65, after three.

“When we get up 20 or more points, we have to step on teams and make sure we don’t let them get back into the game,” Grant said.

Reggie Miller, the Pacers leading scorer, missed his first eight shots before he converted a four-point play with 1:54 left in the third quarter. Miller finished with six points in 24 minutes.

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Orlando 108, Detroit 99--Michael Doleac scored 20 points and Monty Williams had 18 as the Magic ended the Pistons’ five-game winning streak with a victory at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Darrell Armstrong had 17 points and eight assists for the Magic, who have beaten the Pistons seven consecutive times.

Grant Hill led the Pistons with 24 points, and Jerry Stackhouse added 21.

Orlando built a 57-50 lead, led by Williams’ 13 points, and started the second half with a 15-4 run to take an 18-point lead. Armstrong had five points in the spurt.

The Magic led, 95-71, with 10:30 left and never saw the margin dip below 14 points.