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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SEATTLE (AP) -- Gary Payton has some news for Jerry Buss: He owns
the Los Angeles Lakers, too.
|  | | Gary Payton scored 34 points Tuesday and afterward, Shaq and Kobe said the Glove's defense always kills the Lakers. |
Payton scored 34 points and the Seattle SuperSonics continued
their mastery of the Lakers with a 91-80 victory Tuesday night.
The Sonics ran their record to 3-0 against the Lakers this
season, all under coach Nate McMillan, who replaced the fired Paul
Westphal on Nov. 27.
"We just attack them," Payton said. "We know we always have
to attack them, not let them sit back and do what they do."
Ruben Patterson, who added 19 points, was delighted to beat his
former team. He helped hold Kobe Bryant to 21 points on 5-for-19
shooting and wasn't guilty of displaying any false modesty.
"He just couldn't hit any shots because I played great
defense," Patterson said. "I know his game. I know what he wants
to do."
Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers with 29 points, but was 5-for-12
from the free-throw line.
The Lakers, especially O'Neal and Bryant, were frustrated in
losing to Seattle again.
"It's happened because the Sonics are an excellent defensive
team," Bryant said. "And it all starts with Gary."
Said O'Neal: "They've just had more fire and intensity than we
have. Gary's always been a great player. He gets all his guys
involved."
Payton was 11-for-19 in 43 minutes in his second game back after
serving a one-game suspension for getting into a shouting match
with McMillan after a loss. He had 30 points in a victory over
Sacramento at home Sunday night.
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Shaq shapes up |
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One day after Kobe Bryant challenged his teammates to get in shape,
coach Phil Jackson told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that
Shaquille O'Neal has started a conditioning program designed to help him
lose weight and gain stamina.
O'Neal has surprised Jackson by asking out of games, though early
season ankle and Achilles' injuries kept him from practicing all out.
"Shaq is going through a little bit of a thing where he's trying to
lose some weight and trying to recondition himself," Jackson said. "I think
he's almost taken it to an extreme, where it's limiting the amount of energy
he has, in his process of trying to tighten his weight down so he's in the
best condition."
Jackson said he would live with the immediate effect if it meant a
more active, more dominant O'Neal down the stretch.
"He just wants to get in really good condition," he said. "He started
doing some extra aerobics. He hadn't even talked about it, so I may be
speaking out of school. But that was what he wanted to do to get himself in
the best possible condition. I said, 'That's all right.' The end run is
really what you're after as a basketball club."
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Payton didn't have any steals, but he was more proud of his
team's defense than his 34 points.
"We can't let Kobe and Shaq have 35 or 40 points apiece,"
Payton said. "So when we beat them, we play good defense on one of
them and let the other one have a good game."
The Sonics outrebounded the Lakers 50-40, with Rashard Lewis
grabbing 12 rebounds to O'Neal's nine. Patrick Ewing returned to
Seattle's lineup after missing his first game of the season because
of tendinitis of his left knee and played 22 minutes.
McMillan used 6-foot-10 rookie Olumide Oyedeji for 14 minutes
and he managed to contribute six rebounds.
In the fourth quarter, the Sonics got 13 points from Payton, who
made 11 free throws in 13 tries.
Patterson had the biggest basket of the quarter, a layup with
3:47 to go to give Seattle an 81-70 lead.
The Sonics held the Lakers, the league's No. 1 offensive team,
to 34.6 percent shooting (28-for-81).
Lewis hit his first basket of the game, an 18-footer, and Brent
Barry made a 3-pointer in the final 2:12 of the third quarter as
the Sonics grabbed a 64-54 lead. Rick Fox of the Lakers hit a
3-pointer with 1:08 on the clock.
The Sonics scored the first seven points of the second quarter,
including a 3-pointer by Payton and a layup by Payton, to go in
front 32-23. They led 48-41 at halftime, with Payton sinking a
19-footer with 1:29 to go.
In the first quarter, Vin Baker hit a wide-open 20-footer with
three seconds left to give Seattle a 25-23 lead. That came after
Barry's second 3-pointer of the period for the Sonics on a pass
from Baker after Baker grabbed an offensive rebound.
The Sonics play the Lakers for the final time March 11 at the
Staples Center.
"They've presented problems for us," Lakers coach Phil Jackson
said. "They do some things defensively against us that we're going
to have to look at."
Game notes
McMillan is all for keeping Payton instead of trading him.
Payton was suspended by McMillan after getting into a shouting
match with him after a game. In the aftermath of the suspension,
general manager Wally Walker wouldn't rule out the trading of
Payton. Walker will get an argument from McMillan if he tries to
get rid of Payton, though. "Gary's the top guard in the league,"
McMillan said before the game. "Why would you want to trade the
top guard in the league?" McMillan said Payton wants to finish out
his career with the Sonics. "I know he loves Seattle and I know he
wants to be the point guard for this organization," McMillan said.
Payton is 32, but McMillan says he's still Seattle's go-to player.
"For the next year or two, Gary will probably have the ball at the
end of the game for us," he said.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
LA Lakers Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
Shaq's private beach runs afoul of Florida law
RECAPS
Boston 83
Atlanta 82
Washington 97
Charlotte 95
Orlando 116
Toronto 111
Philadelphia 114
Dallas 98
Milwaukee 105
New York 91
Minnesota 82
Phoenix 73
Seattle 91
LA Lakers 80
Portland 104
Chicago 100
San Antonio 110
Vancouver 77
Denver 105
Houston 100
Utah 100
Golden State 78
Sacramento 130
New Jersey 104
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Kobe Bryant Official Site
Rick Fox Official Site
Mark Madsen Official Site
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