Opponent: Minnesota Timberwolves
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Sesay to injured list as Allen returns: To make room for Ray Allen on the active roster, the Sonics moved forward Ansu Sesay to the injured list with a left ring finger strain.
Though guard Brent Barry has missed three games and might also miss Saturday’s game against Minnesota, the team opted not to put him on the injured list because it would require him to miss at least five games (and those games cannot be retroactive). Because of a reduced schedule during the holidays, those five games would take two weeks, “and Brent felt he wouldn’t be out two weeks,” Seattle coach Nate McMillan said.
“Brent felt that if he missed (Tuesday’s) game and maybe Saturday’s game, he should be ready to go,” McMillan added. “And he has even talked about possibly playing this weekend (against Minnesota).”
The team also could have moved little-used center Vitaly Potapenko to the injured list, but with games coming up against Houston (with 7-5 center Yao Ming) and the LA Lakers (with 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal) the Sonics want to keep all their big men in uniform.
Sesay is eligible to return from the injured list for a Jan. 4 road game at Sacramento.
More Allen: Asked before the game if Allen would be limited in any way, McMillan said no.
Even dunks?
“I haven’t seen him dunk (since returning from his injury),” McMillan said with a smile. “I’m sure he could if he needed to, but I don’t expect to see him swing on the rim.”
Still more Allen: Don’t give him a hard time, but Allen says he has gained five pounds during his recent inactivity. Allen weighed in this week at 208, with his optimum playing weight closer to 203.
Night not to remember: Every rookie has forgettable games, and for Seattle’s Luke Ridnour it was Saturday’s contest at Denver. Ridnour had eight turnovers as the Nuggets confronted him with heavy pressure.
“They recognized the pressure was getting to him and that he was a little nervous with the ball,” McMillan said. “They basically just tried to stay on him. That’s part of learning. When a team is that aggressive on you that far out, you need to be aggressive and attack the basket.”
Ridnour, he added, “is our best guard at getting out and forcing that fast tempo that we want.”
Collison update: Injured Sonics rookie Nick Collison said he expects to accompany the team on its mid-January East Coast road trip, a swing that opens in New York. After the game, Collison is expected to stay in the Big Apple for a few days and see Dr. Russell Warren, the surgeon who operated on Collison’s left shoulder in mid-October. Not only will his left shoulder be evaluated, but a date for a likely surgery on his right shoulder may also be set.
Holiday schedule: The Sonics will practice this morning, take Christmas Day off, then return to the practice court on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s game against Minnesota.
That’s a fact: Sonics president Wally Walker and Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni were teammates in Milan, Italy in the 1980s.
Rich Myhre
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