Sonics Update

Herald Staff

Opponent: Detroit Pistons

When: 3 p.m.

Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills

TV: None

Radio: KJR (950 AM)

Probable starters: For Seattle – Forwards Vin Baker (6 feet 11 inches) and Rashard Lewis (6-10), center Patrick Ewing (7-0), guards Desmond Mason (6-6) and Gary Payton (6-4. For Detroit _ Forwards Billy Owens (6-9) and Ben Wallace (6-9), center Eric Montross (7-0), guards Jerry Stackhouse (6-6) and Chucky Atkins (5-11).

Ewing still struggling: Perhaps it was because Seattle SuperSonics center Patrick Ewing had returned to the New York area, where about 30 reporters were waiting for him.

Or maybe it is because he is the largest new cog in a team that has gone 2-5 to start the season, a team that many predicted would be the fourth-best team in the Western Conference.

Whatever the reason, when Gary Payton was being interviewed after the Sonics’ baffling 126-91 loss to the New Jersey Nets, the subject ultimately turned to whether Ewing was being used correctly by the Sonics.

“I can’t make suggestions,” Payton said. “I am not the coach. So I am like, whatever you want to do, do it. I don’t know how to use him. If you all have any suggestions, please put it in a hat and give it to (Sonics coach Paul Westphal). Because I don’t know what to do.”

Payton did say that Ewing should possibly go to Westphal.

“Pat has to go up in there and tell him himself how he wants to be used,” Payton said. “How he is going to be more effective. But Patrick is not that type of guy. He is not going to demand something. Like he said, he is just going to come up in here and try to help this team. If there is anything that he needs to tell him, he needs to tell him himself. I can’t go up in there and say Pat should be on the block 15 or 20 times and get his 20 shots.”

While it sounded like Payton wants Ewing to get more shots, he also said that other players may suffer from that.

“We’ve got young guys,” Payton said. “We’ve got guys who can’t just sit there and watch stuff. We can’t just pound the ball in there. That’s what gets us in trouble now. We are watching too much. And you see what happened. They got a lot of fast breaks. Teams that fast break us get a lot of layups.”

Baker injures knee: Vin Baker injured his left knee in the second quarter, when Stephon Marbury came around a pick and bent it inward. It was the same knee that Baker injured in the preseason.

Baker laid on the floor for several minutes, then was helped from the court. He went to the locker room with two minutes left in the half, but came back and played in the third quarter.

“I wanted to help the team,” said Baker, whose family was in attendance from Old Saybrook, Conn. “I figured I could get a lot of treatment on it tonight.”

Baker’s status for today’s game against the Detroit Piston is unknown, although he said, “I’m going to try to play. It is sore right now.”