For the first time in nearly two decades, the Seattle SuperSonics will face a Utah Jazz team tonight without John Stockton and Karl Malone.
The last time it happened, Sonics rookie Luke Ridnour was 4 years old and head coach Nate McMillan was playing basketball at North Carolina State University.
Still, not having to face the two future Hall of Famers hardly ensures Seattle of a successful visit to the always-rowdy Delta Center. For one reason, the slumping Sonics have lost three of their last four games and four of the last six. For another, the revamped Jazz is up to its old tricks – winning regularly at home.
Utah, 8-6 overall, has a shiny 7-1 home record, with the only blemish coming in a 118-110 loss to Sacramento on Nov. 19.
Compounding Seattle’s problems will be the expected absence of forward Rashard Lewis, who has returned to Houston after the unexpected death of his brother on Wednesday.
Though there is an outside chance Lewis could travel from Houston to Salt Lake City for tonight’s game – the coaching staff is leaving the decision up to him – the best guess has him returning sometime next week. The Sonics have home games Wednesday against New York and Friday against Indiana before leaving on Dec. 6 for a seven-day, four-game swing through the East Coast and Midwest.
Without Lewis and guard Ray Allen, who is on the injured list as he recovers from arthroscopic ankle surgery, the Sonics would be going into the next few games without their top two scorers from a year ago.
“We’re going through some tough times right now,” McMillan acknowledged, “but you can’t give into it. You have to fight. You have to stay together through these tough times. The only way to come out of this is to work your way out of it.
Despite the Lewis’ tragedy and Allen’s injury, “no one is going to feel sorry for you,” he added. “No one is going to give you a break. And so the one thing I want us to do is make sure we compete.”
Utah is rebuilding around young forwards Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring, the team’s top two scorers. Kirilenko averages 17.8 points and 7.2 rebounds a game, while Harpring averages 16.4 points and 8.4 rebounds. The player with the most team seniority is center Greg Ostertag, the top rebounder at 9.3 per game.
Though the Jazz seemed likely to plummet in the post-Stockton and Malone era, longtime coach Jerry Sloan still has the team playing at a high level. And one person who is not surprised is McMillan, an outspoken Sloan booster.
“I have a great deal of respect for coach Sloan and what he does with his teams,” McMillan said. “He keeps guys who fight on that roster. If you compete in this league and if you play hard, you always have a chance to (succeed), and he’s always been able to get those guys to do that. He has a certain type of guy he wants and those guys seem to be mentally tough.”
The Jazz, he went on, “play physical, aggressive basketball. Their style hasn’t changed. A few names and faces have, but they still are a very physical team on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, they’re patient and they execute.
“When we go to Utah,” he said, “it’s always a tough game. And I don’t expect (tonight) to be anything different.”
Opponent: Utah Jazz
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Probable starters: For Seattle – forwards Ansu Sesay (6 feet, 8 inches) and Vlade Radmanovic (6-10), center Calvin Booth (6-11), guards Brent Barry (6-6) and Flip Murray (6-4). For Utah – forwards Andrei Kirilenko (6-9) and Matt Harpring (6-7), center Greg Ostertag (7-2), guards DeShawn Stevenson (6-5) and Raul Lopez (6-0).
Seattle’s Vlade Radmanovic was planning to have a nice dinner on Thursday, but it wasn’t going to be a Thanksgiving meal, per se.
Radmanovic is a native of Yugoslavia, where they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as Americans do. “There are a lot of holidays over there like here,” he said, with Christmas as the most obvious example, “but Thanksgiving Day, we don’t have anything similar to that.”
After an early morning practice, Radmanovic planned to spend the day with his parents, who are visiting in Seattle, before joining the team on the charter flight to Salt Lake City.
Jazz injuries: Utah will be without forward Keon Clark, who underwent surgery on Nov. 24 to remove a bone spur from his ankle, a procedure very similar to what Seattle’s Ray Allen had on Nov. 1. Clark is on the injured list and is expected to miss up to 12 weeks.
Also out is guard Carlos Arroyo, who suffered a sprained ankle in a recent game and will miss another week or so.
Rich Myhre
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