Opponent: Orlando Magic
When: 6 p.m.
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Probable starters: For Seattle – forwards Desmond Mason (6 feet, 5 inches) and Rashard Lewis (6-10), center Vin Baker (6-11), guards Brent Barry (6-6) and Gary Payton (6-4). For Orlando – forwards Mike Miller (6-8) and Horace Grant (6-10), center Steven Hunter (7-0), guards Tracy McGrady (6-8) and Darrell Armstrong (6-1).
Next game: Sacramento at Seattle, 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Mason update: Sonic Desmond Mason, who has missed six games with a sprained right knee, is expected to be activated from the injured list before tonight’s game, though a final decision may not be made until sometime this afternoon.
Mason practiced with the team on Saturday and seemed to be moving well, but his knee “is nowhere near 100 percent,” said Sonics coach Nate McMillan. “Still, he was out there (at practice) scrapping and battling, just like he usually does.”
If Mason is healthy, he will probably start tonight’s game at small forward, with Rashard Lewis moving to power forward and Vin Baker to center. If Mason cannot play, or if McMillan decides to play him from the bench, then Lewis and Baker will likely stay at the forwards and Art Long would probably step in at center.
McMillan obviously hopes to get Mason, one of the team’s budding stars, back in uniform.
“(Mason) brings a lot to the team with his intensity and his energy,” McMillan said. “And we feed off that.”
Add, injuries: While Mason may return tonight, the Sonics will definitely be without center Calvin Booth, who is on the injured list with an ailing right ankle and must miss at least three more games. Also, center Jerome James (still on the injured list) and forward Vlade Radmanovic are both hobbled by sprained ankles and will almost certainly sit out.
Radmanovic, who was hurt in Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, “is not putting a lot of pressure on his foot,” McMillan said. “He’s basically icing it and getting treatment, but no running. He can’t put a lot of weight on it. I would say he’s doubtful for (tonight) and questionable for Wednesday’s game (against Sacramento).”
Go figure: If you’re wondering how the Sonics could beat the Lakers 104-93 on Tuesday night at LA’s Staples Center, then get belted by the Clippers 114-94 the next night in the same building, get in line. So is McMillan.
“It was something that you hope won’t happen, but it did,” said Seattle’s coach. “And you don’t understand why.”
There is, McMillan said, no excuse for the team’s dismal effort against the Clippers. “Whether (the excuse) is youth or playing in back-to-back games or injuries, the bottom line was that we didn’t play. We can play better than that regardless of anything. Defensively, we had no tone to that game at all.”
Rich Myhre
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