Opponent: Memphis Grizzlies
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16)
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
Probable starters: For Seattle – Forwards Rashard Lewis (6 feet 10 inches) and Vlade Radmanovic (6-10), center Calvin Booth (6-11), guards Brent Barry (6-6) and Flip Murray (6-4). For Memphis – Forwards Pau Gasol (7-0) and James Posey (6-8), center Jake Tsakalidis (7-2), guards Mike Miller (6-8) and Jason Williams (6-1).
Next game: Washington at Seattle, 6 p.m. Sunday.
Scouting report: Coach Nate McMillan expects to start the same lineup tonight that has started all of Seattle’s first nine games. That unit will confront a revamped and much-improved Grizzlies team that is, for the first time in franchise history, a playoff contender.
Memphis, which brings a 5-5 record into tonight’s contest, is led by forward Pau Gasol, who averages 17.1 points and 8.2 rebounds a game, both team bests. Guard/forward Mike Miller, acquired late last season from Orlando, averages 12.1 points, while point guard Jason Williams contributes 10.1 points and 8.0 assists.
The Grizzlies have six players who average better than 9.0 points, and a seventh, forward Stromile Swift, is at 8.9.
Under coach Hubie Brown, who took over for Sidney Lowe early last season, the Grizzlies “play hard,” McMillan said. “They play 10 players and they play the way we want to play, which is up-tempo. They scrap, they can shoot the ball and they have a low-post game.”
Improvement needed: While he stopped short of open criticism, McMillan left little doubt that he was not completely pleased with second-year guard Flip Murray’s game on Tuesday, which included a career-best 31 points.
In particular, McMillan was unhappy with some of Murray’s offensive decisions, specifically in the decisive fourth quarter. Rather than running the offense, Murray was content to go one-on-one and launch outside shots. He made some, but still the Sonics went down in the late moments to the visiting Heat.
” (Murray) is scoring, but he’s still learning how to play,” McMillan said. “He has to learn how to make decisions in this league. I think a lot of times we look at (big scoring) numbers. I’ve seen players who put up numbers and their team loses. My concern is that you put up numbers and our team wins.
“The bottom line,” he added, “is to win the game.”
Trivia question: Over the last five seasons, the Grizzlies have a 104-274 record. That mark ranks 28th among the 29 NBA teams in that span. Which team has the worst overall record over the last five seasons?
Allen back in LA: Sonics guard Ray Allen is in Los Angeles this morning and is due to meet with Dr. Richard Ferkel, the surgeon who removed fragments of bone and cartilage from Allen’s right ankle in an arthroscopic procedure Nov. 1. Allen is scheduled to fly back to Seattle this afternoon and be at KeyArena for tonight’s game.
If all goes as expected, Allen will put aside the protective walking boot (it keeps his ankle immobilized) that he has worn since the surgery. He could then begin his rehabilitation with conditioning exercises that will likely allow him to return to the active roster sometime next month.
Familiar face: Snohomish native Don Poier continues to be the Grizzlies’ radio play-by-play broadcaster. Poier, who spent several years with Seattle’s KING-TV, joined the Grizzlies when the team began play in Vancouver in the 1995-96 season. Today he and his wife Barb make their home in the Memphis suburb of Cordova.
Trivia answer: The Chicago Bulls, 96-282.
Rich Myhre
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