SEATTLE – Back on April 1, the Seattle SuperSonics beat Portland to drop their magic number for winning the NBA’s Northwest Division title to one. Over the season’s final three weeks, the Sonics needed just one more victory or a loss by division runner-up Denver to clinch their first division title in seven years.
Nine days have passed and still that magic number is stuck at one.
“It’s right there,” Seattle coach Nate McMillan said with a sigh after the team’s Sunday practice. “It’s so close, you can sense it, you can feel it.”
Since beating Portland, the Sonics have lost to Golden State, Sacramento, the Lakers and Denver, while Denver has defeated San Antonio, Portland, Memphis, New Orleans, Minnesota and the Sonics in that same span. Seattle led the Nuggets by 91/2 games in the division race after beating Portland, but today that margin is five games (both teams have six games remaining; the Sonics hold the tiebreaker).
Denver has been the league’s hottest team since head coach George Karl was hired on Jan. 27, winning 28 of its past 34 games. Seattle kept pace for a time, but has lost six of its past eight games, including the current season-high losing streak of four games.
Injuries, of course, have been the primary culprit. Of late, the Sonics have been without All-Star forward Rashard Lewis, who has missed the past seven games with a deep bone bruise in his right foot and will probably be out a few more (“He’s still feeling a little something there,” McMillan said); forward Vlade Radmanovic, likely out the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his right leg (“I’d be surprised to see him back.”); and guard Antonio Daniels, who has missed two games with a sore left knee and no one is quite sure when he will return (“He did some running, but didn’t look good at all.”).
Other players have also been bothered by injuries – forward Danny Fortson is not expected to play tonight because of a sprained left shoulder – leaving the Sonics severely short-handed.
These are “tough times right now,” McMillan admitted. The injuries, he went on, have made it “an awful situation to be in, but it’s a situation we have to play through because there isn’t anything we can do about it.”
“The bottom line is to win and we have to figure out a way with the players we have in uniform. … So you stay at that drawing board a little longer, trying to come up with something a little different. Something you can use or do for the guys who are out there.”
The good news, McMillan noted, is that morale remains high. “I think we’re together,” he said. “We’re not pointing fingers.”
“At this point, everybody is doing the best they can do,” agreed All-Star guard Ray Allen. “We just have to learn how to be more consistent with what we have on the floor. … You can worry about winning one game, winning the division, but if you just worry about (playing better basketball) the bigger picture takes care of itself.”
Ahead for Seattle will be home games this week against Houston, Dallas and New Orleans. The Sonics close their regular-season schedule next week on the road against Minnesota, Dallas and Houston. The playoffs begin April 23, with Seattle likely to have a home game that day.
As much as the Sonics would like to wrap up the division title, the bigger concern is getting players healthy. When that happens, McMillan said, “we should get back to being the team we’ve been all season long.”
“But does it happen the game they all come back?” he said. “Does it take a couple of games? Does it come back (at all)? Who knows? But I know we have a better chance to see (the team turn around) if they do come back. And when they come back, hopefully they are ready to go and they’re feeling good and it won’t take long.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
