Opponent: Phoenix Suns
When: 6 p.m.
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Probable starters: For Seattle – forwards Rashard Lewis (6 feet, 10 inches) and Reggie Evans (6-8), center Jerome James (7-1), guards Ray Allen (6-5) and Luke Ridnour (6-2). For Phoenix – forwards Quentin Richardson (6-6) and Shawn Marion (6-7), center Amare Stoudemire (6-10), guards Joe Johnson (6-7) and Steve Nash (6-3).
Next game: Houston at Seattle, 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Playoff primer?
If the NBA playoffs started today, the Sonics could well be looking at a second-round matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
Under the league’s playoff format, the three division winners in each conference are seeded 1, 2 and 3, based on regular-season record. The remaining five teams with the best records are then seeded 4-8.
San Antonio has the best mark in the Western Conference, followed by Phoenix and Seattle. The Suns would draw the No. 7 team in the first round and the Sonics would face No. 6, and if Phoenix and Seattle both won their opening-round series they would square off in the second round.
All of which means tonight’s game at KeyArena could be an enticing glimpse of the upcoming postseason.
Not that Seattle coach Nate McMillan is thinking along those lines. Publicly, at least.
“I haven’t thought about that a lot,” he said Saturday. “We’re not looking that far ahead. I think it’s too soon to start doing something like that. We’re just looking at this game and what we need to do.”
Seattle and Phoenix have split two games this season. The Suns won the first at KeyArena on Dec. 17, 112-110, and the Sonics won the rematch in Phoenix on Feb. 11, 113-105.
Because of the NBA’s realignment this season and the addition of New Orleans to the Western Conference, today’s game will be the final meeting between the teams in 2004-05.
Perhaps until the playoffs, that is.
Medical report: Guard Flip Murray returned Saturday after missing Thursday’s workout and Friday’s game with Detroit because of a viral infection.
The Sonics went through a light practice, comprised mostly of shooting drills. The only absentee was forward Rashard Lewis, who spent most of the session in the training room.
“He’s OK,” McMillan said. “Some of these guys just needed some time off to get some treatment. That’s what (Saturday) was about. To get some treatment and get some shots up.”
The Sonics spent a little time talking about Phoenix on Saturday, but will get into the specific game plan during a morning shootaround today.
Proud to be a bruiser: Forward Reggie Evans joined the Sonics in the summer of 2002 as a free agent after going undrafted following his senior season at the University of Iowa.
Though Evans was a long shot to make the team, McMillan saw early on in training camp “that he just outworked (everybody). I kind of felt we could use this guy somewhere. Someone with that type of energy, that type of physical play. He enjoys that. It’s not just something he was doing to make this team. That’s how he plays.”
Teammate Rashard Lewis, meanwhile, has a few nicknames for Evans. One is “Baby Rodman,” because Evans plays like Dennis Rodman, the former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls star. The other is “The Lawman.”
Why? “Because he controls the paint,” Lewis explained.
Rich Myhre, Herald Writer
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