ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER

  Scores/Schedules
  Standings
  Statistics
  Transactions
  Injuries
  Players
  Message Board
  NBA StatSearch
  NBA en espaņol
Clubhouses






Friday, Mar. 2 7:00pm ET
Lewis, Sonics hold on in Indiana

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Seattle coach Nate McMillan never lost faith in his team. Not even after it blew a 21-point lead in just nine minutes.

Jelani McCoy
Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal, right, tries to draw the charge from Sonics forward Jelani McCoy.
McMillan waited for his team to respond and, finally, Rashard Lewis did. Lewis' back-to-back baskets late in the game and three free throws from Shammond Williams in the final 19 seconds allowed Seattle to hold off Indiana 86-83 Friday night.

"A 20-point lead is hard to play with," McMillan said. "They got hot, drew some fouls and hit some free throws. They got their stops and it's hard to play with that lead, but we responded and pulled it out."

Lewis finished with 18 points and Gary Payton had 26 points and 10 assists to lead Seattle to its second straight road victory.

But it proved more difficult than most anybody, including McMillan, could have imagined after three quarters.

"I thought their quickness really gave us some problems," said Thomas, whose team was without backup point guard Travis Best because of a back injury. "We didn't really have any quickness to match up with them when they went small."

Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.

Seattle, which entered the fourth quarter with a seemingly comfortable 73-52 lead, couldn't make a basket, couldn't get a defensive stop, couldn't get anything to go right.

"It reminded me of some old games I've played against this team," Patrick Ewing said. "When I was with the Knicks there were several times when we were up big only to have the Pacers come back and pull out a victory."

For a while, it appeared as if that scenario just might play out again.

The Pacers opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run, the last points coming on Reggie Miller's 15-footer. That got the Pacers within 73-62 and forced an animated McMillan to call timeout.

Indiana scored five more points, and after Seattle finally ended a 4:38 scoring drought, the Pacers used a 10-1 run to tie the score at 79 with 3:02 to go.

Then, McMillan told his team to bear down.

"Coach told us to tighten up our defense and our offense would take care of itself and that's what happened," Lewis said. "Coach also talked about keeping our composure."

Lewis heeded the advice and hit the next two baskets, Williams hit the free throws and when Miller and Jermaine O'Neal missed game-tying 3-pointers in the closing seconds, the SuperSonics had survived.

"We knew Miller was going to take that shot, we knew they were going to try and make a switch," Payton said. "I stayed on him and made him take an off-balance shot."

Jalen Rose led Indiana with 24 points, while Miller added 20.

Game notes
Miller's basket with 9:17 left moved him past Bob Pettit and into 22nd place on the NBA's career scoring list. ... Seattle forward Vin Baker did not play because of a contusion on his left hand. McMillan said he expected Baker to play Sunday against Minnesota. ... The officials called four techinical fouls in the first nine minutes of the game and five technicals in the first half. They also called Indiana's Al Harrington for a flagrant foul in the first half.

Send this story to a friend
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard

Seattle Clubhouse

Indiana Clubhouse

RECAPS
Seattle 86
Indiana 83

Philadelphia 107
Washington 102

Charlotte 105
Atlanta 99

Boston 103
Utah 99

Orlando 120
Cleveland 94

Toronto 107
New Jersey 90

Miami 97
Detroit 93

Chicago 81
New York 72

Minnesota 89
Denver 71

LA Clippers 88
Sacramento 81

AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Gary Payton has a hot hand in the first quarter for the Sonics.
avi: 479 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Jermaine O'Neal has issues with Gary Payton's attempt to score.
avi: 357 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1


ESPN.com:  HELP |  ADVERTISER INFO |  CONTACT US |  TOOLS |  SITE MAP
Copyright ©2000 ESPN Internet Group. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Employment opportunities at ESPN.com.