Payton fell one point shy of the career high he set last March 4 against Minnesota. He was 18-of-27 from the field and added eight rebounds and six assists for Seattle, which has not won six in a row since March 11-19.
"I was shooting the ball really well," Payton said. "I was going to the basket and I was concentrating. It was one of those nights."
"I don't think he forced anything," Seattle coach Nate McMillan added. "He did a good job of drawing double-teams when they didn't double-team him and gave him single coverage. He took advantage of it and it was just an unbelievable fourth quarter by him, taking over and reading situations and putting the game away."
 Gary Payton had 18 made field goals to just 24 for the Clippers. Jeff Reinking NBAE/Getty Images |
Desmond Mason added 12 points and Vin Baker had 10 and nine rebounds after missing a game with a sore thumb.
"I think we can play better," Baker said. "This is a team that's not fully healthy, and I think we can get much more dangerous when we get at full tilt. And I think after tonight we're just scratching the surface of how good we can be."
Seattle shot 48 percent (39-of-81) and held the Clippers to 32 percent (24-of-74). Los Angeles stayed in the game by making 38-of-41 free throws.
"We played great defense," Payton said. "All of us were buckling down."
Corey Maggette went 15-of-16 from the line and scored 25 points to lead the Clippers. Jeff McInnis contributed 20 points and Elton Brand added 16 but was just 3-of-6 from the field.
"We just didn't shoot the ball well tonight," Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. "We had a lot of opportunities and a lot of good shots and we just didn't shoot it. You can't possibly win a game when you shoot 32 percent."
"Being able to keep Elton Brand to 16 and (Michael) Olowokandi to two, we basically accoomplished what we wanted," McMillan said. "We wanted to take away their low-post game and force them to play a perimeter game."
Despite shooting just 38 percent (13-of-34) in the first half, Los Angeles took a 49-47 lead into the break behind a perfect 21-of-21 effort from the line. Maggette had 12 points and McInnis 11 at halftime for Los Angeles, while Payton registered 13 for Seattle.
The Clippers, who played without injured forward Lamar Odom, fell to 1-7 on the road this season. They have lost 37 of 39 games in Seattle.
"He's our best player," Gentry said. "Lamar's a guy who can dominate a game without scoring."
Seattle avenged a 114-94 defeat in Los Angeles on December 12.
"We'll get them next time," Maggette said. "We didn't have Lamar and that kind of switches us up. I usually guard Gary and we had to switch off, so that kind of hurt us. You never know if we would have had Lamar, but I can't blame that. We lost, and that's that."