Opponent: Los Angeles Lakers
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Radmanovic to miss 4-6 weeks
After struggling with his outside shot the past few weeks, forward Vlade Radmanovic now knows the reason.
Radmanovic, one of Seattle’s top backups and a leading contender for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower right leg on Friday. He will be in a cast two weeks and a walking boot for another week or two before beginning his rehabilitation.
“We’re having a great season, and now I have to sit out and watch the rest of those guys play,” said a dispirited Radmanovic before Friday’s game. “But hopefully I’ll be ready for the playoffs.”
Radmanovic said he is unsure when the injury, which is “2-3 inches above the ankle,” occurred.
“Honestly, I don’t remember that I did anything,” he said. “I just started feeling pain. I thought it was some tendon or muscle and I kept playing with it, but it was getting worse and worse every day. So finally we took some (x-rays) to find out what was wrong.”
After the mid-February All-Star break, Radmanovic scored in double figures in four of Seattle’s first six games. But he scored in single digits in each of the team’s next seven games, and in that span he was a combined 18-for-63 (.286 percent) from the field.
If Radmanovic is sidelined four weeks, he would miss 16 games and return for just the last three games of the regular season. If it is six weeks, he would be out for all of the remaining schedule, plus the first few games of Seattle’s first-round playoff series.
“It’s a big loss to the team, but injuries happen,” said Sonics coach Nate McMillan. “We can’t make excuses.”
Before Friday’s game, McMillan was unsure just how he would adjust his rotation in Radmanovic’s absence. Vitaly Potapenko, who has played sparingly this season, might see additional minutes, as might guard Flip Murray with Ray Allen moving from guard to small forward.
“We could get real small real quick,” McMillan acknowledged. “It’s just something I’m going to have wing over the next couple of games, coming up with a rotation. But it’s not like we can stay with what we’re doing because (Radmanovic) will be gone for a few weeks now.
“Like I said, I’m going to wing it,” he said with a wry smile.
Radmanovic, who was placed on the injured list (forward Damien Wilkins was activated before the game) was not the only Sonic missing Friday. Forward Danny Fortson missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle, and center Jerome James sat out with a thigh contusion. All three were in street clothes on the team’s bench.
For James and Radmanovic, this was the first game they have missed this season. Now, only Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison have played in all of Seattle’s 64 games.
On record pace: By winning two of three games on their recent trip to the East Coast and Midwest, the Sonics improved their road record to 22-9. Seattle can set a franchise record for road wins in one season by winning five of their remaining 10 games away from KeyArena. Three times in team history, the Sonics have won 26 road games.
Rich Myhre, Herald Writer
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