WARRIORS RUN OUT OF GAS, LOSE TO SONICS, 129-117POOR SHOOTING IN 4TH QUARTER FOR HARDAWAY

Beating Phoenix and Seattle on back-to-back nights was simply

asking too much.

The Sonics defeated the Warriors, 129-117, on Saturday night at the

Coliseum Arena, wearing down Golden State despite losing secondleading scorer

Shawn Kemp late in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors (15-34), who defeated the Suns, 139-128, in overtime Friday

night, did what they have done all season -- made it interesting down the

stretch before bad decisions and bad shot selection did them in.

The Sonics (35-14) led, 109-97, with 6:33 remaining before the Warriors cut

it to 111-107 after Tim Hardaway converted a drive with 3:55 left. But

Hardaway missed two shots and committed a turnover after that, and the Sonics

pulled away.

Detlef Schrempf led the Sonics with 31 points, and point guard Gary Payton

had 29 points, seven assists and four steals.

Hardaway had 21 points and 19 assists but was a miserable 7 of 24 from the

field, including some key late misses. He was 3 for 13 from 3-point range.

Payton was 13 of 23 from the field and committed just two turnovers in 42

minutes.

''There ain't no matchup,'' Payton said of his game against Hardaway. ''I'm

just playing. I match up against everybody every night. It's no different

here. I've been in the league five years and it's no different. I've been

playing like this for a while.''

Golden State was playing its fourth game in five nights.

''We literally ran out of gas,'' Warriors coach Bob Lanier said. ''Our guys

played good, we stayed in it and we gave ourselves a chance to win.''

Latrell Sprewell led the Warriors with 30 points but scored just two in the

fourth quarter. He took just two shots in the period. Chris Gatling scored a

season-high 26 points, including 18 in the second quarter.

The Sonics and Warriors were even on the boards, 41-41, but Seattle grabbed

19 offensive rebounds, including seven in the fourth quarter.

''One of the things we do not do well is get on the glass,'' Lanier said.

''They got a lot of second shots in the second half and that really hurt

us.''

The Warriors also hurt themselves with turnovers by committing 20 to the

Sonics' 11. Center Rony Seikaly had seven turnovers in only 21 minutes.

Ex-Warrior Byron Houston also played a role in Seattle's victory. He tied a

season-high with 12 points, including 10 of 10 from the foul line. Seattle was

38 for 45 from the line.

Kemp strained his left calf with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter and

did not return.

''When these two teams play, it's a game of spurts,'' Seattle coach George

Karl said. ''I would have liked to stay ahead of them most of the game but we

didn't. They hung with us. I think they're playing better ball right now. Last

night their game was impressive. We just made the shots and got to the

free-throw line in the fourth quarter and made our free throws.''