SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On the game:
We just didn’t handle their press well. They were aggressive and we were hesitant in our offense. They really got aggressive on the ball. We had some guys in who saw some playing time for the first time tonight and they were nervous with the ball and didn’t handle the pressure well.

On playing young players extended minutes:
It was one of those nights where you’ve got new guys and new faces and they’re going against guys like Ruben Patterson and Darius Miles and Damon (Stoudamire) and Theo (Ratliff) and you could just see our guys get a little tight which can be expected. That first half, they just went and got aggressive.

On whether he's concerned about the outcome:
I was experimenting here tonight. The one thing I didn’t like was I didn’t feel the energy. I didn’t feel like we set the tone as far as we wanted to play. They basically controlled the game and tempo with their aggressiveness and I think we didn’t get after those guys tonight.

FORWARD NICK COLLISON:

On playing his second NBA game after missing all of last season:
It was great to get out and play. I had to wait a whole year and any chance to get out on the court is good. It was good to get hit and push some people around. This was a very aggressive team tonight. But we had some really different combinations out there so things will be different down the road.

GUARD ANTONIO DANIELS:

On the game:
No excuses, but we did get a lot of good looks tonight. They were obviously excited, it was their first game of the preseason and they were in front of their home fans, so they were very aggressive. My goal is to distribute the ball and limit my turnovers and I did okay there.

PORTLAND COACH MAURICE CHEEKS:

On the game:
I though this was a nice performance tonight. We talked about this in camp, trying to establish ourselves early on and playing fundamental basketball. I thought tonight we had a lot of guys trying to play fundamental basketball. Our defense was great, on the ball and off the ball, and I felt our defense fueled our offense.

On Shareef Abdur-Rahim's performance:
Shareef was good. Take away the six-of-seven shooting from the floor and just look at his overall play at the three positions (he played). He was pushing the ball, he was getting up the floor and he was knocking down shots. I’m not going to get into the whole who’s starting bit but I’ll just say Darius played very well off the bench tonight. Put the 0-of-11 from the floor aside and Darius was as good as anybody on defense tonight.

GUARD RICHIE FRAHM:

On opening up the preseason:
After beating each other up in practice the last week and a half, it was definitely nice to go out there and put it on somebody else. It was just like a preseason practice. We’ve got a back-to-back and it's another test to see if we can work on things to make things better for the team tomorrow.

On having a guaranteed contract:
It's going to help. I’m taking shots I probably wouldn’t have been taken if I was trying out for the team. We’re going to work on those and get a comfort level.

GUARD SEBASTIAN TELFAIR:

On the game :
It's what preseason is for. We’re going to play together and get to know one another and see what we like to do.

On whether he played back-to-back games in high school:
Yeah, we played four games in a row. But it's my first travel between games, unless you count going borough to borough, getting on the Z Train going from Brooklyn to the Bronx.

GUARD NICK VAN EXEL:

On his teammates:
Those guys really get after it, get their hands on the ball, get the deflections. That’s how the coach wants us to play when we’re out there together, and it makes it easier for the guard.

On his preseason goals:
Basically it's two things: Get my game conditioning up so I can be ready for the first game of the season and manage my knee as good as possible, and get into the flow of real game, like up and down the court.