Opponent: Utah Jazz
When: 6 p.m. Monday
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Open up and say ahhh
An initial diagnosis of an upper respiratory infection for Sonics guard Antonio Daniels turned out to be a little off the mark.
Daniels, in fact, has acute tonsillitis and did not attend Wednesday’s game at KeyArena.
“It was something a little bigger than (a respiratory infection),” Seattle coach Nate McMillan said wryly.
Though it was unclear what remedy would be taken for Daniels, McMillan said the player could “possibly” need to have his tonsils removed, something that was once a standard procedure.
Daniels has been Seattle’s top backup at guard, averaging nearly 28 minutes a game and often playing in a three-guard lineup with Ray Allen and Luke Ridnour. Daniels is also Seattle’s third-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game.
With Daniels out, Flip Murray will get most of his minutes in the rotation, McMillan said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to see (Murray) out there without having to get him and get him out like it was a four-guard rotation,” the coach said.
Murray, who played briefly in the season opener and then missed the next 21 games with a strained quadriceps muscle, had played a total of 24 minutes in the two games preceding Wednesday’s meeting with Denver, making just one of seven field goal tries for two points.
Guard Ray Allen, meanwhile, actually does have a respiratory infection. He was sent home from Tuesday’s practice, then sent home again from Wednesday’s morning shootaround, but returned to play against the Nuggets. Forward Reggie Evans and center Jerome James are two other players who have battled illnesses in recent days.
“It’s that time of year,” McMillan shrugged. “It’s something that basketball players get once or twice a year. You just have to run it out. Go home at night and wrap up with some Vicks VapoRub on your chest and sweat that stuff out.”
Secret to success: McMillan visits with media before every game, and the out-of-town writers are always curious to ask about Seattle’s success to date. On Wednesday, he fielded those questions from two Denver writers.
“I like what we’re doing early this season,” McMillan responded. “My main concern this year was not so much wins and losses – and I know that sounds crazy when you’re in the last year of your contract – but it’s how we play. I felt that if we (played hard), we’d win some games. And we’ve been fortunate to win maybe more games than people expected.”
Seattle and Phoenix have been the NBA’s two biggest surprises this season. While the Sonics took an 18-5 record into Wednesday’s game, the Suns have a league-best 22-3 mark.
“I’ve seen what we’re doing and what Phoenix is doing, and I believe in that,” McMillan said. “I believe that if you play hard and play unselfish basketball, and if you respect the game and the uniform that you’re in, you can win games. I think that’s what we’re doing and I think that’s what Phoenix is doing.”
Scrooge McMillan: Deep down, McMillan probably enjoys Christmas. But his holiday spirit tends to get stifled this time of year, particularly when his team has just one game in a nine-day stretch that wraps around Dec. 25.
“We’re home with so many days off and it’s Christmas, and I don’t like that,” McMillan admitted. “You can get caught up in all of the shopping and wrapping gifts and the family, and you have a lot of days off. So I’d rather be on the road during this time.”
McMillan’s bigger complaint is not so much the Christmas activities as the time off. As a rule, he said, a winning team like Seattle prefers to play games frequently, while losing teams benefit from days away.
“We’d much rather have had another game or two in this stretch, but we don’t,” he said. “For us, this is the schedule.”
Rich Myhre
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