The Seattle SuperSonics found a solution to the Houston Rockets' sharpshooters just in time to stay alive in the NBA playoffs.
Hersey Hawkins had 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and Gary Payton did a defensive job on Matt Maloney to lead the Sonics to a 100-94 victory Tuesday night.The Rockets still lead the series 3-2 and could end it in Seattle on Thursday night, but the SuperSonics feel good about returning home for Game 6.
"We did what we should have done at home," forward Terry Cummings said. "It was a gut-check. We did a good job defensively and rebounding. For the first time this series, we concentrated on getting Hersey the ball and making Maloney work.
"We don't think he works hard. He just runs around and shoots."
Until Tuesday night, Maloney and Mario Elie hitting effectively from 3-point range was enough for the Rockets to take a 3-1 lead. But they went cold on 3-pointers Tuesday night as Maloney was 0-for-6 and Elie was 0-for-5.
"My intentions were just to make him (Maloney) drive the basketball," Payton said. "He rushed a lot of shots and then he didn't take any more. I was going to let him know that he wasn't going to get wide open looks this time."
Maloney said his shots just weren't falling.
"He did a good job, but they didn't do anything different," Maloney said. "Overall, they came out with a lot of energy. We just didn't do what we had to do. I hit those shots before."
Payton scored 21 points and Shawn Kemp added 20 for the Sonics, who are seeking to become the sixth team in NBA history to successfully come back from a 3-1 deficit.
If Houston wins Game 6, the Western Conference finals will begin Saturday at Utah.
"When you're up 3-1, you ought to finish them off," Charles Barkley said. "But they came out like they were 3-1 trying to finish us off. Now, even if we win up there, we have to go straight to Salt Lake City. That's the worst part of it."
Seattle outshot Houston 48 percent to 39 percent and withstood a 31-point, 16-rebound performance by Hakeem Olajuwon and a 26-point effort from Clyde Drexler.
"You can't be more proud of the effort," Karl said. "We went to a very aggressive mode. We're reaching that point in the series where energy is sometimes hard to find. We reached in and found it."
The Rockets missed their first 10 3-point attempts, then shot 4-of-5 in the second quarter to get back in the game. It wasn't enough.