Ready for run and gun?

SEATTLE – Every spring, there’s plenty of talk about how the game slows during the NBA playoffs.

Try telling that to the Sacramento Kings and Seattle SuperSonics. Their Western Conference series, which opens tonight, is going to look like a track meet.

“They’re capable, if they have all their people, of playing the run-and-gun style,” Sonics coach Nate McMillan said Friday. “We’re going to have to be smart with our shot selection. We want to run, but we want to be selective in our shot selection.”

The Kings ranked second in the NBA in scoring behind Phoenix during the regular season, averaging 103.7 points. Seattle was 11th at 98.9 per game.

“These are two pretty exciting teams going out there,” said Sacramento’s Bobby Jackson, who scored 15 points in the regular-season finale after missing four months with an injured wrist. “We like to play fast, play aggressive up and down the floor, and so does Seattle.”

Both teams shoot relatively well from the perimeter. Sacramento made 37 percent of its 3-point attempts, fourth in the league and one place in front of Seattle, which shot 36 percent.

“I’ve got a feeling this is going to be an up-and-down-the-court series,” Sonics point guard Luke Ridnour said.

Yet one big question lingers: How much will each team be limited by injuries to key players?

Every Sacramento player practiced Friday except point guard Mike Bibby, who took an extra day to rest a sore ankle. But it’s expected he’ll be ready for tipoff.

The Kings could have center Brad Miller back after he missed the final 25 regular-season games with a broken left leg. He returned to practice with a slight limp, and coach Rick Adelman said his status for Game 1 will depend on how sore he feels before the game today.

“It’s a hard one for me,” Adelman said. “He wants to play. But today was encouraging to watch him scrimmaging.”

Sharp-shooting forward Peja Stojakovic, who led Sacramento with a 20.1 scoring average but missed the final three games with a strained groin, thinks he can play.

“Honestly, I was a little bit scared to practice,” Stojakovic said. “But in the end it was good.”

Brian Skinner, Miller’s backup, sprained his right foot in Wednesday’s regular-season finale but is expected to play.

Seattle All-Star forward Rashard Lewis missed his second straight practice, but his bruised right foot isn’t expected to keep him sidelined for Game 1.

Vladimir Radmanovic, his backup, had no complaints one day after returning after a five-week absence forced by a stress fracture in his lower right leg.

With Lewis and Radmanovic, the Sonics feel they’re back at full strength – more reminiscent of the team that opened the season 17-3 than the one that closed by losing eight of 10 games.

“Having Vlade back means we can play fast,” said Ray Allen, Seattle’s leading scorer with a 23.9 average. “We have the personnel to play fast.”

This is Seattle’s first playoff trip in three years, and Allen hasn’t been in the postseason since his Milwaukee Bucks lost to Allen Iverson and Philadelphia in the 2001 Eastern Conference finals.

While the Kings are no longer the dancing, chest-bumping team that rumbled through the playoffs in recent seasons with Chris Webber and Doug Christie, the Kings – in the postseason for the seventh straight year – still have a big advantage.

“It’s a veteran team with a lot of experience,” McMillan said. “They can score. It poses a challenge to us to stop their motion offense, the movement they have.”

No matter who’s on the court, McMillan believes the key for Seattle is not to outscore the Kings, but to defend them. The team that best disrupts the other’s style will have the edge.