LAKERS SUFFER SONIC BLOWOUT NEW-LOOK SEATTLE NOT INTIMIDATED BY L.A. SEATTLE 121, LAKERS 88.Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer SEATTLE - Late again. Only this time it wasn't just a certain tempestuous tem·pes·tu·ous adj. 1. Of, relating to, or resembling a tempest: tempestuous gales. 2. Tumultuous; stormy: a tempestuous relationship. guard, but the entire Lakers team that couldn't keep time. Late on their defensive rotations. Off-tempo in their offensive sets. Late to recover in transition. Way too late in a feeble comeback attempt to have any chance at all of overcoming a newly energized Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (or simply Sonics) are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Their mascot's name is Squatch. team. Three days removed from the firing of Paul Westphal Not to be confused with Paul Westhead. Paul Westphal (born November 30 1950 in Torrance, California) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA. A native of California, Westphal has had a storied career in the NBA, both as a player and as a head coach. , the Sonics played with a renewed sense of purpose under interim coach Nate McMillan Nathaniel "Nate" McMillan (born August 3, 1964 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player and current head coach of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. , while the Lakers played with little purpose at all, suffering a 121-88 blowout at Key Arena on Thursday night. The 33-point loss was easily the Lakers' worst of the season, though one they seemed to get over rather quickly. ``This team came out with so much energy with the addition of Nate, this being his first home game, the crowd being behind them, them being energized, their energy just kind of overwhelmed us today,'' said Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. . ``They beat us up and down the floor, they got a lot of transition baskets and we weren't able to keep up.'' Not by a long shot. The Sonics led by 20 early in the second quarter, by 33 at halftime and the margin never dipped below 21 in the second half. ``Tonight wasn't about offense and defense,'' said the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). . ``It's just that we didn't match their overall energy.'' Gary Payton
Up-tempo and upbeat, the Sonics scored 23 points off the fast break. The Lakers seemed stunned by the surge. ``The tempo of the game was really what you have to talk about,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. said. ``Their tempo rushed us a little bit. We played a tempo a tem·po adv. & adj. Music In the tempo originally designated; resuming the initial tempo of a section or movement after a specified deviation from it. Used chiefly as a direction. that's not ours and as a consequence, we didn't play well.'' O'Neal got off to a slow start but finished with a respectable 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting and seven rebounds. Bryant got off to a shaky start and only got shakier, making 6 of 16 shots for 17 points, and he never could figure a way to slow Payton. After making an incredible 15 of 27 tries from 3-point range Tuesday, the Lakers went 1 for 20 from the arc against Seattle. The loss put an end to the Lakers' five-game winning streak Noun 1. winning streak - a streak of wins streak, run - an unbroken series of events; "had a streak of bad luck"; "Nicklaus had a run of birdies" , and left everyone a bit befuddled as to why they couldn't match the Sonics' energy. ``If I knew the answer to that, believe me, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now,'' said Horace Grant Horace Junior Grant (born July 4 1965 in Augusta, Georgia) is a retired American basketball player. He attended and played college basketball at Clemson University, before playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he became a 4-time NBA champion. . ``We just ran into a buzzsaw today.'' It was pretty much over by halftime, when the Sonics had already established a 74-43 lead, dealing the Lakers their worst halftime deficit of the season. The scoring outburst was the most the Lakers have surrendered in any half. Seattle made 63 percent of its field-goal attempts in the half, and all 11 Sonics who played, scored. They dominated the half despite getting just five minutes from Patrick Ewing, who got into early foul trouble against O'Neal and was replaced by Vin Baker. McMillan, now 2-0 as Sonics coach, started a revamped lineup that sent Baker to the bench, but Baker seemed to operate better that way. The underachieving former All-Star hit 8 of 13 shots and finished with 20 points in 34 minutes. Despite the loss, the Lakers closed out November with an 11-5 record - on pace with the 11-4 mark they posted in the opening month last season. ``It's good to be where we're at right now,'' said Rick Fox, ``considering it doesn't feel quite yet like last year's team at this point. . . . But I think the true test is these next few games - San Antonio, Dallas, Philly.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Kobe Bryant of the Lakers soars back to the court after a slam dunk against the SuperSonics, who dominated play Thursday night and won 121-88 at Key Arena. It was the worst loss of the season for Los Angeles. Stevan Morgan/Associated Press (2) Seattle's Gary Payton scores on a layup while the Lakers' Horace Grant (54) looks on Thursday night. Stevan Morgan/Associated Press Box: GAME RECAP |
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