Peja Stojakovic scored five of his 32 points in the final minute as the Sacramento Kings edged the Seattle SuperSonics, 99-95, for their 15th win in 16 games.
The Kings played without Webber, their All-Star power forward, who was handed a one-game suspension and fined $7,500 for throwing an intentional elbow at Utah rookie Jarron Collins on Saturday. But Stojakovic, who was named to his first All-Star team Tuesday, took over down the stretch to help Sacramento improve to 10-9 on the road this season and 17-7 without Webber.
![]() Hedo Turkoglu had 12 points against the Sonics. Jeff Reinking NBAE/Getty Images |
After Divac made 1-of-2 at the line with 1:29 left to tie the game, Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer with 52 seconds remaining to give the Kings the lead for good.
Following a missed jumper by Radmanovic, Stojakovic calmly nailed a shot from the right baseline to give Sacramento a 97-92 lead with 16 seconds left. Rashard Lewis knocked in a 3-pointer three seconds later, but after Bobby Jackson sank a pair of free throws, Lewis missed a 3-point attempt and the Kings grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock.
"That was a terrific win for us," Sacramento coach Rick Adelman said. "It was a big win without Chris. I give our guys credit. In the first half we didn't defend very well. In the second half we battled for everything."
Stojakovic finished 11-of-22 and had seven rebounds and three steals while leading six Kings in double figures.
"I felt I had to become more aggressive and responsible," Stojakovic said. "The main difference in the second half was our defense and we hit big shots when we needed to especially at the end of the game. That was the key tonight."
The Kings won despite shooting just 37 percent (31-of-85), including 27 percent (7-of-26) from the arc.
Divac had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Mike Bibby added 12, eight and eight assists for the Kings, who won their third straight game.
Reserve Bobby Jackson hit two of his three 3-pointers in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter to give Sacramento an 84-78 lead. The Kings led 89-82 before the Sonics went on a 7-0 run that was stopped by Divac's free throws.
Gary Payton had 25 points and 13 assists to pace Seattle. Baker, who aggravated his bruised left shoulder in the team's 92-86 home loss to Portland on Tuesday, returned to score 22 points and pull down seven rebounds. Lewis added 18 and nine.
"We don't make excuses for ourselves," Payton said. "We just need to play basketball 'cause this is now two games that we let get away from ourselves."
"Yeah, we did let it slip away," Baker said. "We played two good basketball teams and we got a lot of work to do, so it's time to go back to the drawing board. We got to improve."
Seattle limited Sacramento to 38 percent shooting (18-of-47) in the first half and took a 59-56 edge at the break. The teams were tied, 76-76, entering the fourth quarter.
"We just let them do anything that they wanted to in the first half," Jackson said. "We knew that if we had a chance to win this game that we had to be more active defensively in the second half. We get our hand on loose balls, we got some key rebounds -- everybody came in and played well in that second half."
Sacramento outrebounded Seattle, 49-46, and had a 17-12 advantage in second-chance points.
The victory snapped the Kings' four-game skid in Seattle. The Sonics had won 22 of their last 26 home games against the Kings.
"We got learn how to win and it's as simple as that," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "We have young guys making young mistakes and you know that's where we're at. We're not making the plays to win the game and we're making rookie mistakes. Rookies are doing that and some of our veterans are doing that, and you know we just have to learn how to win the game and put the game away."








