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2005 Playoffs Homepage Hard Work Pays Off For Wilkins Live From The Press Box - Game 4 Sonics News Archive

Rashard Lewis

"(It's) not to where I would want to be, where I can be able to go out and run and jump," Lewis said after watching Sonics practice from the sidelines Monday afternoon. "Especially when I'm walking, putting pressure on it, it's hurting. I feel like if I can't play on it, it's not better."

Lewis doesn't feel the same pressure to get back on the court he did before the Sonics won without him yesterday in Game 4, getting 19 points from Antonio Daniels (Lewis' replacement in the starting lineup), 20 points from guard Luke Ridnour, and 15 points from rookie Damien Wilkins, who took most of Lewis' minutes.

"The way those guys played made me feel real comfortable sitting on the side cheering them on." Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

"I was just so upset right before the game when I wasn't able to be there playing with those guys and didn't want to put my team in position to go down 3-1, coming back here to face elimination," Lewis said. "But the way those guys played - especially Damien, but everybody stepped up - made me feel real comfortable sitting on the side cheering them on. It seems like they're giving me time to get back. They're holding it down for me."

The Sonics success with a three-guard lineup of Ridnour, Daniels and Ray Allen has sparked some discussion that Lewis might come off the bench if he plays but is limited in Game 5, but Sonics Coach Nate McMillan scuttled that talk.

"If he can go, he'll be in the starting lineup," said McMillan.

Lewis starting hardly means the trio of Ridnour, Daniels and Allen wouldn't see the floor together; that lineup, with Lewis at power forward, played the majority of the fourth quarter in the Sonics Game 3 victory.

Allen took time to remind reporters that while the Sonics played well without Lewis, they're eager to get him back on the court.

"Injuries, they test the character of a team," said Allen. "We saw different ways people played with him down, but we need him."

The likelihood of that will depend on how Lewis' foot responds to the ice and stim treatments he continues to receive and will get tomorrow. Lewis is working hard to get back, but doesn't want to hurt the team by playing at less than full strength.

"I'm still trying to do anything I can do to try to get out on the court, but I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I can't perform at all and I'm going to go out there and I can't do anything - can't run, can't jump," Lewis said. "I feel like Damien is in much better shape right now than I would be."

Leftover Game 4 Thoughts

McMillan feels that, in Game 4, his team relocated the style that enabled them to put up points against the NBA's toughest defenses during the regular season - including the Spurs in Seattle's two victories in four head-to-head matchups.

"It is hard to defend the style of basketball we played last night, because a lot of it was us playing our third options," said McMillan. "We didn't play a lot in our first options. There were a lot of screens. That's tough to defend. I felt like, all along, that's the type of movement we had to have to beat this team. The two times we beat them in the regular season was the same type of movement.

Facing the NBA's stingiest defense, the Sonics shot an even 50% from the field and scored 101 points despite a half-hearted fourth quarter in which they scored only 19 points.

Allen wasn't surprised by the performance.

"We came into this series expecting to win," said Allen. "We were down two; we had to win somewhere in our minds. So we didn't surprise ourselves; we just had to go out and do it."

Allen also pointed out that while several Sonics players stepped up, none truly played beyond his capabilities.

"It wasn't a situation where we had to say, 'Wow - Luke went out and scored 35 points. That enabled us to win,'" Allen said. "Or Jerome (James) scored 30 points. Everybody did what they are capable of doing. It was people doing their job, and good things happened."