SuperSonic Victory Means Lakers Open Against Kings
The Lakers will meet the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs.
That was determined Tuesday night, when Gary Payton had 33 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists for his 10th career triple-double as the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Kings, 119-112 in overtime.
With the victory, Seattle, 2-2 against Sacramento, secured the seventh playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The two teams went into the game tied for seventh. The SuperSonics (45-36) clinched seventh place because they have a better conference record than the eighth-place Kings (44-37). The SuperSonics are 31-20 against the Western Conference; the Kings are 25-26.
The SuperSonics will open the playoffs in Utah.
Payton scored eight of his points in overtime as Seattle scored eight straight to take a nine-point lead with 33 seconds to play.
Vin Baker scored 23 points, and Rashard Lewis had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Seattle.
Sacramento’s Chris Webber had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for his 13th career triple-double. Jason Williams had 23 points, and Predrag Stojakovic 20.
Stojakovic made a jumper from the baseline with 0.5 left, tying the score 107-107 and sending the game into overtime.
After Williams made his seventh three-point shot of the game to cut Seattle’s lead to 104-103, Payton made a turnaround jumper with 18 seconds left. Williams’ layup cut the lead to one point, setting the stage for Stojakovic.
Trailing 97-92, the SuperSonics scored six straight, with the final basket coming on a baseline jumper from Baker with 2:48 left.
The SuperSonics closed the third quarter with 15-6 run, assuming an 81-75 lead. Sacramento made one field goal in the final seven minutes and didn’t score in the last 3:19 of the period.
In a wild second quarter, Williams made four three-pointers over a 2:59 span as the Kings rallied to assume a 57-56 halftime lead.
Payton had nine points, six rebounds and five assists in the first quarter as Seattle took a 33-25 lead.
Webber missed nine of his first 11 shots.
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