SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On the game:
This was just a scrappy performance by the team tonight. We talked about taking one quarter at a time and trying to win each quarter. We tied two quarters but had two quarters, the second and third, and it was just a solid performance. I thought the defense was solid for 48 minutes tonight. We had a lot of good ball movement in our offense. Just a solid effort by bench, I thought they really came through.

On limiting turnovers:
That was one of the keys to the game tonight, not to turn the ball over and to try and control the boards. We didn’t control the boards, but we did a better job of taking care of the ball. Five turnovers in the first quarter and then we settled down and started delivering good passes and getting opportunities at the basket. When we can do that, and when we’re knocking down our shots, it’s tough to defend us.

On Vladimir Radmanovic's performance:
I thought he played great. I thought he played a solid game, an intelligent game. He was very aggressive on both ends of the floor. Double-double, five steals, three assists - that is a wonderful performance. Offensively he was really aggressive with the ball.

On beating the Blazers after losing to them Tuesday:
This was very similar to our last game with them. We made a run in the third; we made some big plays in the fourth. I saw us get excited and throw our fists up in the air a couple of times. We talked about keeping a clear mind and what we needed to do to finish the game. We were focusing on the things that got us to this point.

FORWARD VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC:

On whether this was one of his best games:
I guess it is. I’m mainly glad we won our game. I doesn’t matter who is going to step up on this team, as long as we’re winning games. There are so many guys that can play and all we have to do is find the guy that is hot that night and feed him up. Tonight it was me. The guys were giving me the ball and I was making shots. Every night it’s going to be someone else. With this type of team, it’s really hard team to stop, the way we’re playing.

On playing poorly on Tuesday against the Blazers:
I’m trying to put behind me the games I didn’t do anything good. That (last) game in Portland was probably one of the worst this season for me. I came into this game ready, knowing that those guys were going to play hard, like they did in Portland. We want to win as many games as we can here and that’s what we did here tonight. Teams come in here knowing that it’s not going to be easy for them to play against us. That’s the confidence we have here.

GUARD LUKE RIDNOUR:

On Radmanovic's effort:
He was awesome. He came off the bench with a lot of energy. Not only did he hit shots, but he played great defense, which is big for us. He can shoot with the best of them when he gets looks.

On the trip to Texas next week:
We need to continue to play together. We know both teams are good and in order for us to win, we’re going to have to play our best games. We’ve got to be ready to go. It’s going to be exciting. Just another challenge for us.

PORTLAND COACH MAURICE CHEEKS:

On the game:
They had great bench play from Radmanovic in the first half and in the third quarter; Rashard Lewis stepped in and pretty much carried the load after that. They just got good play from all the way around.

On the Sonics tonight:
Radmanovic shot the ball extremely well. He had 17 at halftime and ended up with 20. It’s not unexpected … he’s capable of that. He’s a big reason that they went in at halftime up two. They just kept us at bay every time we got within five. Someone would make a shot and they strung us out a lot. Ridnour strung us out a lot and Ray Allen strung us out a lot. Even though Ray shot 5 for 15, you still have to pay a lot of attention to him.

On the Blazers:
Our guards didn’t make shots and we had some looks. There are going to be nights when we make shots and there are going to be nights when we don’t. There wasn’t a whole lot of good performances in there. D.A. (Derek Anderson) didn’t make shots and Damon (Stoudamire) didn’t make shots.

On the Sonics this season:
I’m not waiting on them to come down. I think they have a heck of a player in Ray Allen. The rest of the guys play off him. I think Ridnour has been a big key for them in running offense. He’s a quick little guard. It’s not like he’s going to come out and score 20 points but he does a lot of good things for the team.

GUARD DAMON STOUDAMIRE:

On the game:
We just kind of played into Seattle’s hands. They are at their best when no one makes them do differently that they don’t want to do. When you have Ray Allen dribbling to the line and shooting three pointers and when you have Radmanovic shooting wide open three pointers or just good shots in general … you know it’s going to be hard to beat a team like that.

On his game right now:
I’m just real frustrated you know. It’s safe to say that I’m frustrated. I’m just trying to fight through it but you get frustrated. … That’s all I can say.

FORWARD SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM:

On the difference between tonight and Tuesday:
We didn’t have that same fight in us. We didn’t keep fighting as hard as we did at home the other night.

Notes: