The phone calls and e-mails keep coming from coaching peers and other friends around the NBA, praising coach Nate McMillan and his Sonics.
Sometimes, too, it is the remarks of TV commentators he hears, repeating the same message.
“They say we’re a good team and we play well,” McMillan said Thursday. “Or they like the way we play. I’ve heard that a lot. They’ll say, ‘You’re fun to watch. Hell of a game last night.’ But that’s where it ends.”
The Sonics, it seems, still have legions of skeptics around the league. A 50-win season was not enough to convince otherwise. Neither was a Northwest Division title. Nor a first-round playoff win against the Sacramento Kings.
“I think everybody is still taking (Seattle’s season) one game at a time,” McMillan said. “They’re not saying, ‘We knew you were going to win that series.’ Or, ‘We know you’re going to win the next series.’ It’s, ‘I really like the way you guys play.’ But I don’t know what they’re thinking after that.”
The Sonics, in fact, are one of the NBA’s Cinderella teams, having vaulted to prominence after missing the playoffs the past two years. For that reason, what Seattle has done “is somewhat of a surprise for many people, and rightfully so,” he said. “To have the season we’ve had, and then getting to the playoffs and making it to the second round, (observers) probably don’t know what they’re thinking right now.
“But I really don’t care. Winning is what’s important here and that’s what we’re trying to do, not worry about what people think.”
Still waiting: The Sonics still do not have official word from the NBA about the dates and times for their upcoming series with San Antonio. About all Seattle knows is that it will open the best-of-seven pairing with two games in San Antonio before returning to KeyArena.
The first two games are expected to be Sunday and Tuesday at the Spurs’ SBC Center with Games 3 and 4 in Seattle the following weekend.
Assuming that is correct, the Sonics will practice at home today, then fly to Texas on Saturday morning and hold a late afternoon workout there.
Role reversal: Early in the season, Danny Fortson was one of Seattle’s frontcourt subs off the bench, with Nick Collison getting spot minutes here and there.
In the second half of the season, though, those roles have reversed. Collison is one of the first players McMillan has been calling – he’s averaged 20.2 minutes a game in the playoffs – and he is usually on the court for all or much of the fourth quarter.
“It’s fun to be in there when the game is on the line,” said Collison, college basketball’s Player of the Year in 2003. “This year I’ve seemed to step my game up in those situations. I’m not scoring a lot of points in those situations, but I’m just trying to be really aware defensively. And it’s a lot more fun at the end of the game than at the beginning to do well.”
Rich Myhre
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