Sonics 117, Timberwolves 86 -- Karl Ejected, Not Dejected As Sonics Roll -- Coach Gets His Money's Worth In Blowup At Ref

It was a game that had a bit of everything: anger, explosiveness, aggressiveness, rage and bad language.

And that was just George Karl.

Leave it to the Sonic coach to inject a little color into an innately drab NBA game. He went off like a moon shot last night in the fourth quarter of a 117-86 blowout of Minnesota.

It was a crimson-faced rage, a sudden Donald Duck fit, directly into the face of referee Bennett Salvatore.

Karl might not admit it, but you got the feeling it was worth it.

He did lose his temper, but his team won. He protected his players, even if he rarely plays most of the players who were on the court at the time. And he stood up for what he believed was right.

"I was wrong for losing control," Karl said, somewhat chagrined afterward, "but I don't think they called a very good basketball game."

Cha-ching. Another fine.

"I think he just wanted (the refs) to know that he's not going to let them just do anything out there. He wanted some control, and I credit him a lot for that," said reserve center Antonio Harvey, whose flagrant foul with five minutes left triggered Karl's Kraze.

It was the final insult in a period that clearly was building with emotion between the teams.

"I felt something was going to happen," said Sonic reserve forward Larry Stewart, who scored a season-high 19 points. "There was a lot of hard fouls."

Two flagrant fouls and five technical fouls were called by the

officiating crew of Salvatore, Terry Durham and Tony Brothers.

Harvey's flagrant foul against Timberwolves center Stojko Vrankovic might have been a makeup call for a flagrant foul by Chris Carr on Stewart two minutes earlier.

When Salvatore walked over to give the scorer details on the foul, Karl went nuts.

"One minute I'm holding a conversation, the next minute I'm holding people back," guard Greg Graham said.

Shawn Kemp and assistant coach Terry Stotts could hardly hold Karl back. Kemp also was ejected during the wildness.

Referees are allowed to comment only on rule violations. By league rule, they can't discuss what transpired.

A pool reporter asked Salvatore what rule Karl violated to be ejected.

"Unsportsmanlike conduct," he said.

Asked if what Karl did was verbal and/or physical, Salvatore said, "Verbal, and we'll leave a tape for the league office to see if there was anything physical."

He added that Kemp's ejection "was for the same thing, unsportsmanlike conduct."

Karl denied touching Salvatore and said, "I didn't do anything worthy to get thrown out of the game."

The game had personal significance for Karl. It was his 400th victory as an NBA coach, although he didn't officially complete it. Stotts directed the final five minutes, so maybe technically that leaves Karl with 399.9 victories.

"A long time ago, I remember saying 400 wins is an unbelievable career," Karl said. "But I guess I have to go on, though. I can't retire."

This was a game the Sonics (15-5), who had lost two in a row and had played inconsistently all season, needed. Everyone played. Everyone scored. The starters looked sharp, passing as many as 10 times before getting a high-percentage shot.

"We've been up and down all year," center Sam Perkins said. "We should play like that all the time."

It helped that the Timberwolves (7-10) were without their second-leading scorer, Kevin Garnett (sprained left ankle). Doug West fought foul trouble all game, and point guard Stephon Marbury injured his right ankle and missed most of the third period.

It also helped that the Sonics played Minnesota. The Sonics have won 23 straight over the Wolves and hold a 27-3 edge overall.

The Sonics led by as many as 41 points in the second half before Karl released his bench on the Wolves. But as Graham said: "We're still going to play hard. We're not going to just let them have layups on us."

Graham said the referees were concerned about the score and "took the game out of context. By calling the flagrant fouls, it just got everyone hotter. They should have just let us play."

Stewart agreed. He said the refs "were calling the scoreboard, not the game. They tried to take too much control. I guess (Karl) just got fed up with all the calls."

The result was bad moods, bad blood and lighter wallets.

"Someone's going to lose some money," Stewart said, "a whole lot of money."