Lakers Run Out of Gas : Pro basketball: They fail to score a basket in the final 4:10 and lose to the SuperSonics, 114-102.
SEATTLE — The Lakers sat and stared at the locker room walls for 12 minutes after losing to the Seattle SuperSonics, 114-102, Thursday night at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
They had every right to be upset after failing to score a basket in the final 4:10.
The Lakers who led, 95-90, with 6 1/2 minutes to play, were outscored, 24-7, down the stretch and shot 28.6% in the final quarter, making only six of 21 shots. They had only two defensive rebounds and had five turnovers, which the SuperSonics converted into five points, in the final quarter.
“We didn’t execute down at the wire,” Coach Randy Pfund said after watching Seattle outscore his team, 34-18, in the final 12 minutes. “We just couldn’t seem to get shots off. Whether we were fatigued, or whether their pressure forced us out of some things, I don’t know. It’s one thing if you miss shots, but you have to be concerned if you don’t get good shots.”
The Laker starters scored three points in the fourth quarter, all by Byron Scott. Forwards Sam Perkins and James Worthy each missed two shots, and Sedale Threatt missed three shots as the Lakers fell to 2-2.
“Basically, we didn’t execute the shots that we wanted toward the end, and they did a better job taking us out of what we wanted to do,” said Scott, who had 20 points. “We weren’t tired. I don’t think that had anything to do with it. We made a couple of mistakes on the defensive end. We played a good game for 45 minutes.”
Threatt, who had 25 points in the first three quarters, agreed.
“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” Threatt said. “We made lazy passes. It’s something we’ve got to work on in the last two minutes.”
Forward Derrick McKey had eight of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, in which the SuperSonics shot 61.5% to win their home opener and raise their record to 3-0. Forward Shawn Kemp, who had 19 points and 11 rebounds, added five points and two steals in the fourth quarter; and guard Gary Payton had seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter as Seattle outscored the Lakers, 18-3, in the final 4:10.
The SuperSonics, who had practiced only once since returning from Japan, where they opened the season with two victories against the Houston Rockets, looked as if they were suffering from jet lag at the end of the third quarter.
Seattle missed its final 12 shots of the third and had two turnovers. It failed to score in the final six minutes of the quarter, and the Lakers took an 84-80 lead into the fourth.
The Lakers, who had trailed since the first quarter, took an 82-80 lead with 2:10 to play in the third quarter when A.C. Green made a layup. Threatt, who scored 10 points in the third quarter, added two free throws with 51 seconds remaining.
The Lakers expanded the lead to 95-90 with 6:30 to play when Elden Campbell dunked a missed shot by Green.
But Seattle scored six points in a row to take the lead when McKey hit a shot, Eddie Johnson made a follow shot and Michael Cage sank a hook shot with 5:10 to play.
The Lakers had one last gasp.
Scott hit a jump shot with 4:44 to play, and Green followed with a layup to give the Lakers a 99-96 lead before Seattle called time out.
But the Lakers didn’t score another field goal.
Seattle scored six consecutive points after the timeout as Cage made a follow shot and then stole the ball from Scott to set up Payton for a layup. Johnson hit a jump shot to give Seattle a 102-99 lead with 2:43 to play.
After Scott made a free throw for 102-100, Payton sank a jump shot to give Seattle a four-point lead.
Kemp, who had two steals in the fourth quarter, took the ball from Scott and beat the 24-second clock with a turnaround in the key for a 106-100 lead.
The Lakers called a timeout to set up a play, but Kemp stole Perkins’ inbounds pass from center Vlade Divac and made a layup and a free throw to give Seattle a nine-point lead and send the sellout crowd into the parking lot.
More to Read
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Dan Woike's weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.