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Sunday, Apr. 16 8:30pm ET
Payton's 43 carries Seattle past Rockets | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- Scoring a career-high 43 points was no big deal to Gary Payton. "I've scored in the 30s a lot of times," said Payton, who reached a career-high for the secnd time this season Sunday as the SuperSonics defeated the Houston Rockets 121-112. "What's the difference between that and 40? It's just something that happened. "I wasn't calculating it to try and get 40 again." Payton had never scored more than 38 over his first nine seasons, yet he has done it three times this season. He had 41 against Washington on Feb. 15 and 40 against Vancouver on March 13. His career-best prior to this season was 38 against Sacramento in 1996. "He was very effective and I think he's bionic," coach Paul Westphal said, pointing to Payton's 48 minutes. "In the second half, he was fantastic." Payton shot 17-for-31 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line in the highest-scoring game by a Rockets opponent this season. The veteran guard also had 11 rebounds and seven assists. "He wouldn't let them lose," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "For a while, it looked like he was playing by himself. He was just tenacious." Seattle moved into a tie with Sacramento for seventh place in the conference. Those two teams, who face each other Tuesday night at Sacramento, want to avoid dropping to the eighth spot and a first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. Payton said Houston's 119-116 upset of the Sonics on April 7 in Seattle had as much to do with his big game as anything. "They had beaten us in Seattle with us not being aggressive," said Payton, who had 15 first-quarter points. "So we had to come out aggressive. That was the big key. We were active on going to the basket." Cuttino Mobley had career highs of 35 points and nine rebounds to lead Houston and said he was just trying to keep up with Payton. "I was just trying to keep us in the game," Mobley said. "He's a good player and he gets lots of open shot with all those picks they set him. I was just trying to stay on his heels." Vin Baker added 16 points, Rashard Lewis 15, Lazaro Borrell 12, Shammond Williams 11 and Horace Grant 10. Steve Francis scored 20 with nine rebounds while Matt Bullard and Shandon Anderson added 15 apiece for Houston. The Rockets had their five-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the third time in 11 games. Payton scored eight early points to lead Seattle on a 10-0 run in the first quarter that lifted the Sonics to a 27-9 lead. Seattle took its biggest lead at 38-19 at the end of the period as Payton had 15. Houston went on an 11-2 run at the start of the second quarter to close to 40-30. Later in the period, Bullard hit three 3-pointers sandwiched around a pair of Moochie Norris free throws to pull the Rockets to 50-47. Seattle settled for a 60-54 halftime lead as Payton had 23 points. The Sonics stretched that to as many as 16 with the help of a 3-pointer by Payton with 4:31 left in the third. Payton had 32 as the period ended with Seattle leading 88-75. Houston went on an 11-0 run midway through the fourth to cut the Seattle lead to 93-90 before Lewis scored seven and Borrell four to lead the Sonics on a 14-4 run that boosted their lead to 107-94 with 4:01 to play. Game notesIt was the first time in 13 games this season that the Rockets shot 50 percent or better (50.6) and lost ... Walt Williams, who has averaged 21.2 points the last five games, served a one-game suspension for Thursday's altercation with Dallas' Shawn Bradley. ... Payton had a season-high streak of 16 games of scoring 20 or more points ended in Friday's loss at Dallas ... The Sonics evened their road record to 20-20. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Seattle Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse Sonics' Baker seeks counseling for depression
Blazers deal Kings setback in race for No. 7 in West
RECAPS Miami 95 Orlando 84
Seattle 121
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