Overtime, And Then It's Over -- Injury To Payton Helps Denver Steal Seattle Bravado

All year long, the Seattle SuperSonics have been Gary Payton's team. They walked his walk, rocked when he talked. His flair, his bravado and on-ball pressure left an indelible imprint on the team's personality.

And, in the biggest game of their season, the Sonics again reflected their leader. Fatally so.

When Payton suffered what is believed to be a broken right foot in the first quarter of yesterday's historic, 98-94 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Sonics were essentially done.

Like Payton, the Sonics were broken and almost helpless to avoid the indignity of becoming the first No. 1 seed to suffer an NBA playoff series loss to an eighth seed. They also are only the third team in league history to lose a first-round series after posting a 60-victory season.

The Sonics had compiled the league's best record, 63-19, with a suffocating defense that was both their strength and the agent that camouflaged their weaknesses. Many times, the Sonics overcame hits like the 58-36 hammer they took on the boards yesterday, making up for the disparity by forcing turnovers that ignited their fast break.

Not yesterday.

Though he played on, Payton was unable to muster his usual temerity. Instead of informing the team of his distress, he choose to gut it out. Payton managed 38 minutes, 14 points and eight assists, but could not slow Denver whirlwind Robert Pack - who led everyone with 23 points - and made a couple of critical turnovers in overtime.

Payton was taken to a local hospital for X-rays immediately after the game.

Caught with a guard down, the Sonics were vulnerable in their middle, even in the Coliseum, where they'd lost only four of 43 previous games. Sensing the exposed opportunity, Nugget Coach Dan Issel employed a haymaker combination of Pack with 7-foot-2 Dikembe Mutombo, 6-11 Brian Williams, 6-8 LaPhonso Ellis and 6-7 Reggie Williams.

Denver's board work and Seattle's inability to break the Nuggets with pressure turned the duel into the kind of half-court contest in which the Sonics have struggled all season.

"I said all series long that if we keep them from getting second-chance shots and easy baskets, we have a chance to win any game," Issel said. "They struggled a lot in the half-court offense, and I think that Dikembe had a lot to do with that."

A menace all series, Mutombo blocked eight shots yesterday, running his total to an NBA playoff-record 31. He issued his biggest rejection on a Shawn Kemp attempt that would have tied the game with 29 seconds left in overtime. With Mutombo draped over him like a cape for most of the five games, Kemp mustered only 14.8 points a contest and shot just 37.4 percent.

But Kemp was not alone. Mutombo could not be pried from the lane, and the Sonics lacked the perimeter shooters to stretch the Nugget defense much. The bucket seemed ringed by a fortress, and the Sonics' inability to pierce it led to frustration, which snowballed throughout the series and manifested itself in manners both self-destructive and outright rebellious.

"When we shoot a poor percentage, we seem to stand more than run," said Sonic Coach George Karl, whose team shot 41.8 percent yesterday and 41.9 for the series. "We seem to play one-on-one more than pass. I think that personality was brought forth by Denver, and we never overcame it."

The only Sonic to really find passage in the Nugget defense was Kendall Gill, who had a brilliant performance - 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting, and three steals - that included a tip-in with half a second left to send the game into overtime. The Sonics got little help from Ricky Pierce, who suffered a dislocated right index finger in the first half and played only eight minutes, five in the second half.

While the playoff-tested Sonics degenerated into a doubting, infighting bunch during this series, the young Nuggets blossomed into a club bursting with confidence that would not be denied.

Not only did the Nuggets overcome an 11-point deficit in the third quarter, but they also weathered a Sonic flurry late in regulation and regrouped in overtime. Most impressive, the youngest team in the NBA overcame an astounding six 24-second violations during the final 7 1/2 minutes of play.

Ellis hit the Nuggets' last two buckets of regulation, including a 14- footer over Payton that put Denver up 88-86 with 15.2 seconds left. The second-year forward also converted a three-point play that put the Nuggets ahead for good, 96-94, with 1:26 remaining in overtime.

"They had a lot of guys who wanted to win the game," Karl said. "They had a lot of guys that wanted to take shots. We were tight and holding the ball. They were loose. They made some big-time shots under a lot of pressure."

Without Payton, their fastest, brashest and loudest gun, the Sonics were lost for a retort. And now the silence will continue into the fall.