By Rich Myhre

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – The Seattle SuperSonics have been missing their spark in recent games, and with their NBA playoff opener looming this weekend coach Nate McMillan figures his team needs the basketball equivalent of a stone and flint.

A day before the team’s regular-season finale – tonight’s meeting with the lowly Memphis Grizzlies – McMillan challenged his veteran backcourt tandem of Gary Payton and Brent Barry to ignite the team for the upcoming postseason.

“Gary and Brent have done a very good job all season long of being ready to play,” McMillan said after the team’s Tuesday workout. “All these guys have been feeding off the energy (Payton and Barry) bring to the floor and the focus they bring to the floor. They have been the guys who have made this team better, setting the tone both offensively and defensively.”

Over the past two weeks, in a stretch of six Seattle losses in seven games, “we haven’t had that,” he said. “Right now, we’re going through the motions as a team. For us to get it back, it starts with our leaders. And that would be Gary and Brent.”

McMillan spent some of the waning moments of Tuesday’s practice talking privately with Payton. Later, Barry joined the conversation.

“I call them the pilot and the co-pilot,” McMillan said. “If one is not going right, then the other one has to step up and make sure that everything is operating before you go anywhere. They’ve done a great job this season, but now is the time we really need them to step up and lead.”

Payton, in a rare post-practice visit with the media, says he has no plans to incite his teammates with a fiery speech.

“I just have to go out there and be Gary,” he said. “I have to go out there with my game face on, play hard, and let them follow by what I’m doing. I have to go out with good body language all the time and show people that I’m ready to play. Desmond (Mason) and Brent will follow me, and then the other guys will follow, too.”

The Sonics will not know their first-round playoff opponent until tonight – either San Antonio or Sacramento. If Seattle beats Memphis and Utah loses to San Antonio in Salt Lake City, the Sonics will earn the No. 7 Western Conference berth. That would pair Seattle against the Spurs, the Midwest Division champion. If Seattle loses or if Utah wins, the Sonics will be the No. 8 team and take on Sacramento (Note: Utah has the tiebreaker with Seattle and San Antonio has the tiebreaker with Dallas, both based on 3-1 season series margins).

Either way, McMillan said, “we’re going to be facing a very good team on the road.”

The NBA will not announce playoff dates until after the completion of tonight’s games. All Seattle knows now is that it will play either Saturday or Sunday in San Antonio or Sacramento, and then a second game early next week. Game 3 of the best-of-five series will be at KeyArena later in the week.

Payton says he has no opponent preference. “We’re going to play somebody tough and we have to go on the road,” he said. “We just have to go and play them. We can’t be afraid of anybody right now.

“We still have a job to do, and we can do a good job in the playoffs if we get back to the way we were two weeks ago. We just have to put our minds to it. We should understand that we have a chance of beating anybody. We just need to get focused. Let’s get back to what we were doing and get away from what we’re not doing now.”

A few weeks ago, the Sonics seemed poised for a postseason surge. Beginning with a Feb. 16 game against Boston, the Sonics went on a six-week stretch of 24 games in which they won 18. Fortunes turned, though, after a March 30 victory against Portland. Six of the next seven outings were defeats and the last two were particularly galling – blowouts against Dallas and the Los Angeles Lakers. Those shoddy efforts rankled McMillan.

“I don’t like the way we’ve played the last two games,” McMillan said. “After what this team has done this season, the last two games definitely don’t show the hard work these guys have put in. We’re definitely a much better team than we’ve shown the last two games. I expect us to find a way to get back to that level of play, hopefully before the playoffs.”

“We need to start playing better basketball,” he said, “or it will be a short series.”