The Seattle SuperSonics may have put together one of the most efficient quarters in NBA history.
They also nearly wasted it.
But by hitting their first 14 shots of the second quarter, and going 20-for-22 overall in the period, the Sonics may have made history at the same time that they scraped out of the Arena in Oakland with a 111-108 overtime victory before 12,129 fans who simply could not believe their eyes for 12 minutes of the second quarter and 12 of the fourth.
After breezing to a 22-point lead, the Sonics fell asleep against a team that missed 10 free throws, shot 45 percent and committed 18 turnovers.
Still, the Sonics were able to pull out their fourth victory in five games after they thought they had a game that broadcaster Chick Hearn might say was "in the refrigerator."
"We made the plays we needed to make in order to win this game," a hoarse coach Nate McMillan said. "In the first half, things were easy for us. But as I told the guys in the locker room, the Warriors are not going to give up."
Ahead 95-81 with 6:55 left in the game, the Sonics permitted the Warriors to go on a 15-1 run, and tie the game at 96 when Brent Barry threw away an inbounds pass to Jason Richardson, who raced to the other end, got fouled by Desmond Mason and made a one-handed runner with 1:13 to go.
Both teams missed shots or had turnovers at the end, sending the game into overtime.
Once there, the teams traded baskets until the final minute. With the score tied at 104, the Sonics' Gary Payton backed down Warriors guard Bob Sura. He threw up one of his up-and-under lay-ins, which rolled off the front of the rim. Vin Baker grabbed the rebound and threw up a miss. He fought with Danny Fortson (17 rebounds) for the board, came up with it, laid it in and was fouled by Fortson.
Baker injured his right thumb on the play, and initial indications were that he may have sustained ligament damage and could be out for an extended period.
The Warriors called timeout, and Baker went to the locker room. Art Long took Baker's free throw and made it, giving Seattle a 107-104 edge.
Sura put back a missed 3-pointer for 107-106, and on the Sonics' next possession, Payton missed a shot, but Lewis, who hit the game-winner in this building last season, floated in, grabbed the rebound and put it in. It proved to be the difference.
Richardson made a layup, but Payton hit two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to seal the victory.
While Seattle's letdown was the story of the night, history may look back on the second quarter in a more substantial manner.
The NBA does not have the field goal percentage record for one quarter listed in its media guide, in part because the league has been keeping play-by-play statistics for only
15 years.
But if the Sonics did not set the NBA record by making 90.9 percent of their shots in a period, they certainly came close.
Clearly, the Warriors - who fired coach Dave Cowens last Saturday- were not playing good defense. The Sonics were getting layups, dunks and uncontested jumpers that even a bad NBA team is supposed to hit.
But when Mason and then Barry and then Vladimir Radmanovic started dumping in 3-pointers like they were skipping stones in a lake, it was from surreal to unreal.
"We were on fire," Mason said. "On fire. You feel good about yourself. Everything is flowing, your offense is running well. Some guys hit some tough shots, but the main thing is we ran our offense to a T."
Of their 20 baskets, eight were layups, three were dunks, three were 3-pointers and six were jump shots outside 10 feet.
The Sonics should have been 20-for-21 for the quarter, but at the end of the half, Baker threw up a three-quarter-court shot that missed.
At first, the Warriors' stats crew did not count it as a shot because Payton was ahead and it could have been construed as a pass. But after reviewing the stats, they changed it.
That meant Baker was the only starter in the quarter to miss. He went 1-for-2 (3 points); Lewis was 2-for-2 (4); Long was 3-for-3 (6); and Barry (9) and Payton (8) both were 4-for-4.