Opponent: Sacramento Kings
What: Game 3, first-round playoff series (Seattle leads 2-0)
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Arco Arena, Sacramento
TV: FSN (cable), ESPN (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 Sacramento – forwards Kenny Thomas (6-7) and Peja Stojakovic (6-10), center Brad Miller (7-0), guards Cuttino Mobley (6-4) and Mike Bibby (6-1).
Troubling knee problem
So far so good for the Sonics, although an ominous cloud follows the team to Sacramento for Games 3 and 4 of this first-round playoff series.
Forward Rashard Lewis said Thursday that the painful tendinitis in his left knee, which has bothered him much of the season, “just seems like it’s getting worse and worse.”
Lewis, a first-time All-Star and Seattle’s second-leading scorer this season, missed three games due to the tendinitis and there is a very real possibility he might miss at least one game in the postseason, or at least be significantly slowed.
The key seems to be getting rest between games. Lewis benefited from two full days between the end of the regular season and Game 1 against the Kings, and another two days between Games 1 and 2. But there is just one day between Games 3 and 4, and one day between Games 4 and 5 if the series goes that far.
“It’s been good that we’ve had some days off,” he said, “but I don’t know what this weekend is going to be like. My main concern is how it’s going to feel on Sunday.
“I’m very concerned, and that’s why I think we need to take care of business right now and try to end this series so we can get as much rest as possible (before the next series) so I can heal.”
Lewis missed eight games late in the season due to a severe bone bruise on his right foot and the time off gave his ailing knee some relief. “But then it went right back to feeling sore with the running and the pounding,” he said.
Lewis also hasn’t practiced since late in the regular season – at least in any workouts involving running and strenuous movement – and probably won’t do so the rest of the playoffs. Yet his knee continues to hurt, though some days are better than others.
The injury “has been hanging over me for the past couple of months,” he said, “but there’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to go out there and play. My mind is saying yes, but my body is saying no.”
Speechless: Seattle’s Ray Allen never hesitates to address his teammates if he thinks a speech is warranted.
On Thursday, though, Allen said he did not expect to speak to the issue of complacency before tonight’s game.
“There’s no sense to try to rally guys because you may end up bringing something negative into the equation,” he explained. “We have a young team and you don’t want to put thoughts in their heads that they may not have otherwise.”
With a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, the Sonics “just need to keep moving forward. And then when something gets a little funny, then you might have to address it then. I don’t want to bring something in that’s not necessary.”
Odd couple: Unusual friendships sometimes crop up on NBA teams and one of those involves Sonics forwards Vlade Radmanovic and Danny Fortson.
Other than braided hair, the two have virtually nothing in common. Radmanovic is a 24-year-old Serbian in his fourth NBA season while the 29-year-old Fortson grew up in Pittsburgh and is in the eighth year of an often troubled pro career. Yet they have adjoining lockers at KeyArena, and their conversations led to a rapport.
Both, it turns out, are free spirits, which has helped each one accept the other.
“Danny is an easy-going guy,” Radmanovic said. “Since the first day he came here (last fall), we’ve had a special kind of relationship. We always support each other.”
Getting noticed: Though the Sonics lack a high-profile player among their centers and power forwards, the work that players like Fortson, Jerome James, Reggie Evans and Nick Collison have done this year has not gone unnoticed.
Said Allen, “I’ve had people on other teams tell me all year how they would love to play with Reggie, how they would love to have Jerome on their team, how Nick is going to be a (good) player, and how they’d love to play with Danny. People value our big guys. People that have watched us throughout the year see what they bring to the table and know why we’re successful.”
Rich Myhre, Herald writer
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