Sonics Soar Over Rockets

April 12, 1998 / 9:35 PM EDT / CBS/AP

With Vin Baker in foul trouble and Gary Payton having a poor game, the Seattle SuperSonics turned to Hersey Hawkins.

Hawkins scored 16 of his 20 points in a six-minute span of the third quarter as Seattle defeated the Houston Rockets 103-95 Sunday in a possible first-round playoff preview.

"I wasn't thinking about taking the game over," Hawkins said. ``They (the Rockets) gave me some breathing room and I got into a nice shooting rhythm."

Hawkins, averaging a career-low 10.5 points per game and shooting a career-low 44 percent from the field, shot 4-of-5 on 3-pointers.

"People forget Hawk is a potent scorer who knows how to pick his spots," Baker said.

"We ran some plays for him, got him some extra shots and he bailed us out," Sonics coach George Karl said.

Houston led 53-52 before Hawkins scored 10 straight points, including a pair of 3-point shots for a 62-53 Seattle lead with 8:38 left in the third quarter. The Rockets came no closer than four points the rest of the way.

The Sonics and Rockets have met six times in postseason play, with the Sonics winning five of those matchups. The Rockets beat Seattle 4-3 last season in the Western Conference semifinals.

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said it's a good possibility the Sonics and Rockets will meet once again in the postseason.

"Their additions have helped them," Tomjanovich said. ``They'll be a challenge for anyone."

Seattle trails Utah (59-19) by one game in the loss column in the battle for best record in the West, with the winner likely to meet the Rockets in the first round. Utah has four games remaining and Seattle has three.

Kevin Willis led Houston with 28 points and Clyde Drexler added 25.

Willis' two free throws made it 91-84 with 5:30 left before Sam Perkins' 3-point shot and a pair of baskets by Baker ignited a 9-2 run that gave Sonics a 100-86 lead.

Drexler said losing the season series to Seattle has no impact on a possible playoff matchup.

"Playoff basketball is a whole new season," Drexler said. ``Our focus is getting healthy. If we can do that, we're a dangerous team coming out of the number eight seed."

Payton had 19 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for the Sonics, who won the season series 3-1.

Seattle's bench outscored Rockets reserves 30-10 as Perkins had 10 points ansix rebounds and Jerome Kersey added 10 points.

After Baker went to the bench with his fourth with 10:28 left in the third, the Hawkins took over. He scored 13 of the Sonics next 15 points as Seattle led 67-58 with 7:12 left in the third period. His final points of the game a 3-pointer gave the Sonics their biggest lead of 74-60.

Willis had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting and hit an 18-foot jump shot just before the halftime buzzer to give the Rockets a 52-49 halftime lead.

The Rockets shot 8-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half. Drexler was 3-for-4 and Brent Price was 2-for-3.