Opponent: San Antonio Spurs

What: Game 5, NBA first-round playoff series (the series is tied 2-2)

When: 6:30 p.m.

Where: Alamodome, San Antonio

TV: KONG (Ch. 6/16), TNT (cable)

Radio: KJR (950 AM)

Probable starters: For Seattle – forwards Desmond Mason (6 feet, 5 inches) and Vlade Radmanovic (6-10), center Vin Baker (6-11), guards Brent Barry (6-6) and Gary Payton (6-4). For San Antonio – forwards Tim Duncan (7-0) and Bruce Bowen (6-7), center Mark Bryant (6-9), guards Antonio Daniels (6-4) and Tony Parker (6-2).

Yes, San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen is an aggressive defender. Or as Seattle’s Brent Barry put it, “he’s the best hockey player in the series.”

Bowen has guarded Barry for much of the first four games and has done well, holding the Seattle sharpshooter to eight, nine, seven and three points. In other words, Barry has yet to reach his regular season average (14.4) to date in this series.

From the 3-point stripe, where Barry did some of his best work in the regular season – he converted 164 3s, the fifth-best total in the NBA – he has been particularly quiet with just three goals in four games.

“It’s kind of like we are both negated in the series,” said Barry, noting Bowen’s total of 17 points in four games, with 11 of those points coming in one game. “But I don’t think I’ve been playing nearly as badly as everybody says I am. I’m not playing with confidence, but I’m going to try to regain that (confidence tonight).”

Better, but not good enough: Though the Sonics did a better job of containing San Antonio point guard Tony Parker (the 19-year-old rookie from France) in Game 4, coach Nate McMillan says the team can and should do better.

In Wednesday’s game, Parker had 14 points on 6-for-18 shooting from the field. He had been instrumental in San Antonio’s 102-75 win in Game 3 with 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting.

“I think we still need to contain Parker more,” McMillan said. “He was still able to get into the paint and get to the basket a few times. We did a better job, but we have to do an even better job on him because he is still getting in the paint in transition and in pick-and-rolls.”

No punishment: The NBA saw fit not to punish Bowen, who threw an elbow into Barry’s chest, or San Antonio teammate Mark Bryant, who tried to pick a fight with Seattle’s Desmond Mason, beyond the technical fouls and ejection (for Bryant) they received in Wednesday’s game.

The Sonics, meanwhile, expressed their views on the two incidents to the league – to no avail, obviously.

“We wanted to make sure they review the tapes and make their own decision on what should be done,” McMillan said. “I thought both guys may have swung (which would have warranted automatic one-game suspensions). But that is something for the league to decide. I don’t want to get into that.”

Rich Myhre