Eddie Johnson's midcourt 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave the Seattle SuperSonics the lead for good and got their fans talking about a sweep of the Houston Rockets.
The Seattle Coliseum crowd chanted "Sweep, Sweep, Sweep" after the Sonics rallied to beat the Rockets 111-100 Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference series."If we can get a game in Houston, we're in the driver's seat," said Johnson, whose buzzer-beating shot gave the Sonics a 77-75 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Johnson was only 3 for 11 from the field, but his shot was a key to Seattle's victory.
"It was a backbreaker," Johnson said. "I was lucky. When you've got a second to throw it, you throw it."
"I had a bad feeling when he let it go," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "That really got their crowd into it."
Sam Perkins, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and the Sonics have Hakeem Olajuwon and Co. in trouble, although the next two games of the best-of-7 series will be held Saturday and Sunday in Houston."When everybody is playing well, we're hard to stop," Perkins said. "If we get one game in Houston, we can end it here."
The Rockets are still hopeful that can get back in the series with two games at The Summit.
"All the pressure is on us to take care of home business," Olajuwon said. "We have to have confidence that we can get the first one."
The Sonics had the same record as the Rockets in the regular season, but got homecourt advantage in the series because of a 3-1 advantage head-to-head.
Perkins got a lot of help from his teammates. Gary Payton had a playoff career-high 22 points and Michael Cage grabbed a playoff career-high 14 rebounds.
Perkins, acquired in a February trade from the Los Angeles Lakers, is 12 for 30 in 3-point attempts in the playoffs for Seattle.
"Houston is inviting me to shoot it," Perkins said. "This is the most challenged I've been in my career to shoot the outside shot consistently."
The Sonics made their first 22 free throws and hit 9 of 12 3-pointers to equal an NBA playoff record now held by five teams.
Perkins hit 3 of 5 3-pointers in the fourth quarter when Seattle hit 11 of 16 shots from the floor.
Olajuwon had 28 points on 13-of-24 shooting, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots, and Vernon Maxwell scored 25 points for Houston.
Perkins hit 5 of 6 3-point shots in the game and the Sonics finished with 28 free throw on 36 attempts. Ricky Pierce scored 19 points and Derrick McKey 15 for Seattle.
After Johnson's long shot gave them the lead, the Sonics outscored the Rockets 12-2 in the first 3:59 of the fourth quarter to take an 89-77 lead. Perkins contributed a 3-pointer, a fastbreak layup and a pair of free throws to the run.
After Houston made it 102-90 when Olajuwon made a 5-foot jump hook with 2:47 left, Perkins made two more 3-pointers in the final 1:46.