SuperSonics Continue Rise

While the Portland Trail Blazers talk of fatigue as the season winds down, the Seattle SuperSonics keep forging ahead and grinding out victories.

Brent Barry scored 22 points and Gary Payton drove for the go-ahead layup with 2:11 left as the Seattle defeated Portland, 92-87, Saturday night at Portland, Ore.

“This is when we’re supposed to click, when it’s almost time for the playoffs,� said Payton, who had 18 points. “We’re making a statement that we’re a playoff-caliber team, and we want everybody to understand that when we get to the playoffs, we’re going to be a team to reckon with.�

Jerome James had 10 rebounds and made a key defensive play late for the SuperSonics, who have won four consecutive games and have defeated two of the Western Conference’s better teams on successive nights. They defeated San Antonio in Seattle on Friday.

Seattle is in the seventh spot in the Western Conference, but the SuperSonics have moved within one game of the Trail Blazers, who have gone only 6-5 since their 12-game winning streak.

“It’s the time of the year where everybody’s kind of tired, but we’ve got to start playing better,� said Derek Anderson, who led Portland with 24 points. “We can’t lose our position, we can’t lose our aggressiveness.�

Dale Davis had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Shawn Kemp had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who played without Rasheed Wallace for the third time in four games because of his sore back. Portland has lost all three of those games.

“I just think that right now we’ve lost a little bit of rhythm this week, with ‘Sheed stepping out of the lineup,� Scottie Pippen said. “Shawn has stepped in and did a great job for us, but it’s not the same out there when we get in tough situations.�

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Phoenix 90, Houston 88--Shawn Marion scored 26 points, including two free throws with five seconds to play, to lead the Suns at Houston.

Houston, which shot a franchise record-low 29.9% percent from the field in a loss Thursday against Sacramento, shot five of 23 (23.2%) in the first quarter Saturday.

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New Jersey 102, Philadelphia 92--Jason Kidd had 19 points and 17 assists at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Nets defeated the 76ers to stretch their home winning streak to 11 games,

Kenyon Martin returned from a two-game suspension and had 18 points, including a huge three-pointer in the fourth quarter as the Nets beat the defending conference champions for the second time in four days.

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Charlotte 93, Cleveland 85--Baron Davis had 20 points and a career-high 17 assists at Cleveland as the Hornets moved into a tie with Philadelphia for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Lee Nailon scored seven points of his 10 points in a 16-4 run that turned a 72-69 deficit into an 85-76 lead.

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Memphis 105, Golden State 99--Pau Gasol had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Jason Williams had 22 points and a career-high 19 assists to lead the Grizzlies at Memphis, Tenn.

Gasol was 12 of 18 from the field, scoring 20 points in the second half. Williams was nine of 21 from the field and his assists were a franchise record.

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Denver 100, Chicago 84--Juwan Howard scored 23 points and reserve Zendon Hamilton had a career-high 20 at Chicago to lead the Nuggets.

Reserve Voshon Lenard had 17 points and Calbert Cheaney had 16 for the Nuggets, who had lost 11 of their previous 12 road games.

Golden State Warrior forward Danny Fortson was suspended for two games without pay by the NBA for a flagrant foul against Detroit on Friday night. Fortson, who fouled the Pistons’ Ben Wallace in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 110-103 road loss, has accumulated eight flagrant foul penalty points this season, three more than allowed.