NEXT GAME
Opponent: Milwaukee Bucks
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Growing up: One sign of maturity, Sonics coach Nate McMillan said before Friday’s game, is the ability to get up for every game on the schedule, not just the showdowns against top teams like the Los Angeles Lakers.
“If you get up for the so-called big games, and if you don’t approach the other teams with the same focus and intensity, you end up losing,” McMillan said. “That’s part of the change I want to see in this team. That every game is a big game.”
The Sonics proved last season that they could compete with the best teams in the league. Seattle, after all, beat the Lakers four straight times. The problem was the number of times the Sonics lost to sub.-500 opponents.
“We didn’t make the playoffs,” McMillan said, “and there’s a reason for that.”
Big numbers: Already this season, eight Sonics have set career scoring highs.
Three of those players are rookies – Vladimir Radmanovic (12 points), Peja Drobnjak (10 points) and Earl Watson (13 points). Two are essentially rookies, having played sparingly earlier in their career – Jerome James (11) and Art Long (10). The other three are veterans who had particularly good outings – Rashard Lewis (36), Brent Barry (31) and Calvin Booth (24).
Add, statistics: Two Sonics are on career record-setting paces in the early season. One is not terribly surprising. Lewis went into Friday’s game averaging 8.6 points a game, which is well ahead of last season’s career-high average of 6.9.
More striking is Gary Payton, who was averaging 9.3 assists a game. Not only was it the third-best mark in the NBA, but it is better than Payton’s top career mark, 8.9 in 1999-2000.
Familiar face: Former Sonics Jelani McCoy is on the Lakers’ injured list with a bone bruise on his right foot. McCoy, who was not offered a contract with Seattle after last season and signed with LA as an offseason free agent, has played in seven games this season and is averaging 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds a game.
Rich Myhre
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