SEATTLE – Roughly one week after returning from a westerly trip across seven times zones, the Seattle SuperSonics headed east through two time zones on Monday morning, bound for Minneapolis and the start of a six-day, four-game Midwest road swing.
It seems almost cruel scheduling by the NBA, sending the Sonics out just days after they shed the jet lag from their season-opening visit to Japan. Players were still talking about residual lethargy late last week, and already they are off on another trek that will surely cause even more inner havoc.
Not that anyone around the league would care all that much. Asked about the rigorous travel, Seattle forward Rashard Lewis could only shrug.
“It’s the NBA,” he said.
For the Sonics, one of the byproducts of the Japan trip was a deficit in games played. By Sunday night, when many league rivals had already played six or seven games, Seattle had just four. The team has some catching up to do and it will start this week.
After taking on the Timberwolves tonight, the Sonics head to Milwaukee for a Wednesday game. Thursday is a day off, followed by games Friday in Indiana and Saturday in Chicago. Counting Sunday’s home game against Atlanta, Seattle will play five games in seven days with two cross-country flights to boot.
Back-to-back games are a bane for NBA teams, and the Sonics will do it twice in the coming days.
“We’ve got a big week coming up,” Lewis said. “We’ve got back-to-back games and we start off with the toughest team, which is Minnesota, and I think (the Timberwolves) are probably going to give us a run. I know we’re going to use a lot of energy in that game, and toward the end of the week it’s probably going to catch up to us.”
Sonics coach Nate McMillan, like most of his peers, loathes excuses. Which is why he danced around the topic of fatigue when he was asked the other day.
“We have 12 guys we can use,” he said matter-of-factly, “so fatigue shouldn’t be a factor. … It takes some time to adjust to the time zones, but I’m feeling OK now. And I don’t see bags under our eyes or guys moving slowly. Everybody seems to be back to themselves.”
Though he didn’t say, McMillan would probably be pleased to split the four games on this trip and be delighted to win three games. Conversely, one win is probably his minimum hope, and four losses would be a devastating setback to the optimism produced by Seattle’s 3-1 start.
“We have to play the way we’re capable of playing,” he said, outlining his goals for the coming week. “We also want to get off to a good start, but we can’t forget who we are. We’re going to have nights where we look like a young, inexperienced team, and we just have to continue to learn how to play.”
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