Payton Does His Part as a Sweep Is Avoided

Gary Payton insisted all week the Seattle SuperSonics weren’t dead. He and his teammates went out and proved it Saturday.

Despite a 30-point performance from Karl Malone, the SuperSonics stayed alive in the NBA playoffs with an 89-78 victory over Utah that cut the Jazz’s lead in the best-of-five first-round series to 2-1.

Game 4 will be at Seattle on Wednesday and Game 5, if necessary, will be at Salt Lake City on Friday.

Payton scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Vin Baker, the SuperSonics’ $87-million power forward who was criticized for his play in Games 1 and 2, had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Seattle, embarrassed by its performances in Utah, outrebounded the Jazz, 46-38. Rookie Rashard Lewis had 10 rebounds.

The difference between the SuperSonics in Seattle and in Salt Lake City?

“I thought we were a little more aggressive today,” Payton said. “When they was hitting us, we were hitting back and it worked.”

Said Malone, who scored 50 points in the playoff opener: “I could have done more. Nobody wants to get swept, especially against a bunch of old guys.”

Baker agreed.

“There was a big sense of urgency today. We didn’t want to get swept,” he said.

Payton, who made eight of 24 shots from the field, had 10 assists and seven rebounds in 48 minutes and Utah point guard John Stockton had four points on one-for-eight shooting.

“If we put a little more pressure on him, I think it disrupts the offense,” Payton said of Stockton, who had 13 assists and two turnovers.

“They outplayed us,” Stockton said.