Opponent: Miami Heat
When: 5 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 Miami – forwards Eddie Jones (6-7) and Udonis Haslem (6-9), center Shaquille O’Neal (7-1), guards Damon Jones (6-) and Dwyane Wade (6-4).
Next game: Los Angeles Clippers at Seattle, 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Evans expects to play
With forward Reggie Evans in uniform for the first three games of their recent road trip, the Sonics went unbeaten.
Without him for the last two, Seattle was winless.
How much, then, did the Sonics miss their starting power forward?
“It looks like a lot,” coach Nate McMillan admitted Saturday, following the team’s midday practice.
After Monday’s game in Miami, Evans left the team and returned to Seattle after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis, a stomach disorder. He went through tests and received treatment, and was well enough Saturday to rejoin the team for practice.
Evans, who seemed spry enough during the workout, was not available for comment afterward, but he is expected to be in the starting lineup for tonight’s rematch with Miami.
Though Evans averages just 5.6 points a game, he leads the team in rebounding at 8.4 and “he gives us the hustle game,” McMillan said. “Energy, toughness, rebounding, setting screens. And he competes, and all of that sets the tone for how we want to play.”
Other injuries: Forwards Rashard Lewis and Danny Fortson sat out the bulk of the team’s practice-ending scrimmage on Saturday. Lewis has a sore knee and Fortson suffered a sprain thumb earlier in the workout, but both are expected to be ready tonight.
Enough said: Fortson was also not available after Saturday’s practice, but his earlier words were a topic of conversation.
After last Monday’s game against Miami, a 98-96 Seattle win, Heat center Shaquille O’Neal criticized Fortson for flopping and said that NBA greats like Bill Walton and Bill Russell “would be ashamed to watch this game, big men flopping around like that.”
To which Fortson said, among other things, that O’Neal’s remarks were “a copout.” Added Fortson, “Of course he is going to complain about flopping because he has to be inside to score buckets. … I challenge him to take a jump hook. Take a couple of jump shots. I bet he can’t do that.”
To which McMillan said Saturday, “I’ve said all season long that our speaking must be on the floor and not through the press. We’ve talked a lot about that the last couple of years.”
Football fans: Several Sonics hurried out of Saturday’s practice, bound for Qwest Field and the Seattle-St. Louis football playoff game. Someone had arranged the use of a stadium suite for the players and Evans, Ray Allen and Jerome James were among those planning to attend, even though practice kept them from missing much of the first half.
Rich Myhre, Herald Writer
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