Sonics Given Day Off Before Taking On Weary Mavericks

With the way the NBA schedule stacks games together, visiting teams often trudge into arenas with tired legs.

But tonight, the Seattle SuperSonics have good reason to be the fresh club when they tip it off with the Dallas Mavericks in Reunion Arena.

Sonics coach George Karl gave his team an unscheduled day off Friday, flying to Dallas immediately after Thursday night’s game in Minnesota, and then canceling practice.

Karl walked out of the Target Center and into 11-degree temperatures in Minneapolis following the 102-87 victory over the Timberwolves, and less than 12 hours later he was hitting the golf course in 63-degree Dallas.

The Mavericks, meantime, were banging bodies with the always-physical New York Knicks in a Friday night game that won’t make their already difficult stretch of games any easier.

“We like that a lot,” Karl said Friday afternoon. “They had a tough game with Orlando a couple of nights ago, and then they have another one against the Knicks. That could wear on them a little and it gives us another game to look at.”

Dallas is in the midst of a ridiculously demanding spell in which it faces six teams in a row with winning records: San Antonio, Orlando, the Knicks, the Sonics, Utah and Sacramento.

None of those squads will be hotter than the Sonics are right now.

Seattle’s eight-game winning streak is the longest currently in the league and the Sonics’ longest of the season.

“Our main concern now is just keeping our edge and our sharpness,” Karl said. “Our rhythm has been good offensively, and even though we haven’t been putting together 48 minutes a night of real good defense, the guys still know how to turn it up when we have to.”

In addition to the back-to-back game considerations for the Mavericks, they are not very deep. The early promise of their 12-8 start has turned into a 16-18 record.

Yet, Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn are among the premier scoring duos in the NBA, averaging 51 points between them. Each has scored 50 points in a game this season; Jackson has topped 30 in 11 games, Mashburn in eight.

“They’re a tough team - a real talented team,” Sonics co-captain Nate McMillan said. “They execute their offense very well, and they gave us a lot of problems up in Seattle when we played them.

“But they play their young guys a lot of minutes, and that’s something we need to take advantage of.”

Moreover, Dallas is playing five games in seven days.