Perkins has shot at record

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

"Your mind goes, your body starts evaporating, your bone marrow sets in," he said Thursday. "You just can't take it any more."

With a flick of his wrist, the 35-year-old Perkins is making it clear that his retirement is a long way away. He's prolonging his career with spectacular 3-point shooting.

The 6-foot-9 1/2 reserve tied an NBA record set by Jeff Hornacek for the most 3-pointers in a game without a miss when he went 8-for-8 in the Seattle SuperSonics' 122-78 victory over Toronto on Wednesday night.

Perkins will have a chance against Cleveland tonight to break the league record of 13 straight 3-pointers shared by Brent Price and Terry Mills.

Retirement? You've got the wrong player.

"Who knows?" teammate Hersey Hawkins said. "Robert Parish is still doing it. Don't count Sam out."

Coach George Karl added: "If you don't have a big guy who is a dominating force in the middle, maybe you can mess them up a little bit by having a big guy out there who can make his shots."

Perkins was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for Benoit Benjamin and Doug Christie on Feb. 22, 1993. If the Lakers thought Perkins was about to retire, they were wrong.