"Rashard Lewis, who missed last night's game to attend his brother's wake in Houston, is expected to return to Seattle and play in tonight's game against the Houston Rockets."

Seattle Supersonics forward Rashard Lewis will miss tonight's game at Utah due to the death of his brother.

Head Coach Nate McMillan plays to start Ansu Sesay in his place.

McMillan does not know if Lewis will be available for tomorrow's home game against the Houston Rockets.

Rashard Lewis will likely miss the Sonics' game in Utah tomorrow after learning yesterday morning that one of his older brothers had died.

The Sonics' small forward spoke with principal owner Howard Schultz, general manager Rick Sund and teammates, but declined to elaborate on the unexpected death to anyone in the organization.

SEATTLE (AP) Seattle SuperSonics forward Rashard Lewis missed practice Wednesday after the death of his brother in Houston.

Team officials didn't know how long Lewis might be out. Seattle's next game is Friday at Utah.

Details of the brother's death were unknown.

Lewis is averaging 21.3 points and 5.8 rebounds. He scored a career-high 50 points in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this season.

Sonics forward Vladimir Radmanovic missed practice yesterday to have his sore left knee examined. Doctors took a magnetic-resonance image (MRI) yesterday morning. Preliminary indications are negative and no significant problems were found. A final examination of the MRI by an orthopedic radiologist was scheduled this morning.

McMillan may reduce the number of players he uses beginning tomorrow night, when Seattle (6-3) plays Memphis at KeyArena. McMillan said he's looking at the rotation in the backcourt between Antonio Daniels and rookie Luke Ridnour.

Ronald Murray is the best out-of-nowhere story in the NBA right now, but he wasn't an unknown to Seattle SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan.

McMillan's brother, Randy, tipped him off about the 6-foot-4 guard out of Division II Shaw University three years ago.

``I called him up and said 'Believe it or not, I think I see a guy that may be one of the better point guards in college right now _ and nobody knows about him,' Randy McMillan recalled Friday.

``I felt he was as good or better than Gary Payton. He said: 'You're crazy.'''

The older of the two McMillan brothers operates a retirement home in North Carolina while also serving as a volunteer assistant coach at North Carolina-Central.

He got his first look at Murray three years ago, and he was in his brother's ear about it that same night. Randy even took Nate to see a summer league game in Durham between Murray's junior and senior seasons, only to have a power outage cancel the game.

Murray ended up being chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 2002 draft (42nd pick overall), and Seattle got him in the Gary Payton-Ray Allen trade as a throw-in to help make the salaries match.

``We had scouted Flip and thought he was a good second-round pick, but his inclusion in the trade was for financial reasons more than anything else, and we got lucky,'' Sonics president Wally Walker said.

Murray has performed like anything but a throw-in while filling in as Allen recovers from knee surgery.

He scored at least 20 points in each of Seattle's first six games, helping the SuperSonics to an NBA-best 5-1 record entering the weekend. He has scored at least 24 points four times, and his jumper over Latrell Sprewell at the buzzer Tuesday night capped a 29-point, eight-assist, six-rebound performance as Seattle defeated Minnesota 89-87.

This from a player who totaled only 27 points in 14 games last season.

Nate McMillan called Randy last February when the Sonics and Bucks were discussing the Payton-Allen swap to ask a few more questions about the little-known guard out of a school with a student enrollment of 2,500.

``He kept asking was I sure he could play the point, handle pressure defense and apply full-court on-the-ball pressure,'' McMillan said. ``I told him what stood out in my mind was his composure _ and how he was real serious about what he wanted to do with his talent.''

The Sonics decided to take Murray instead of Jamal Sampson as the final throw-in, and Allen pulled Seattle general manager Rick Sund aside just a few hours later.

``He said, 'I want you to know this kid Murray is pretty good,' and Ray knew this from going against him in practice,'' Sund said. ``So we had Ray saying this, and Randy telling us he was a real player, and it got us pretty excited.''

After Allen went down in the preseason, the Sonics were getting ready to board a plane for their flight to Japan for two games against the Clippers.

Sund told Murray the story of Wally Pipp, the New York Yankees first baseman who missed a game and was replaced by Lou Gehrig _ who then went on to set the major league record for consecutive games played.

``He liked that story. He said it inspired him,'' Sund said.

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REALIGNMENT:@ The league's switch to a six-division league for the 2004-05 season is expected to become official early next week after ballots are returned by the 30 NBA franchises.

The Eastern Conference will be split into three divisions: the Atlantic, Central and Southeast, and the West will be divided into the Southwest, Northwest and Pacific.

The expansion Charlotte Bobcats will be placed in the Southeast with Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Washington. The New Orleans Hornets will move to the West, joining Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Memphis in the Southwest.

Boston, New York, Toronto, Philadelphia and New Jersey will be in the Atlantic Division; Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Indiana and Detroit in the Central; Denver, Minnesota, Portland, Seattle and Utah in the Northwest and Phoenix, Sacramento, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers in the Pacific.

Teams will continue to play two regular-season games _ one home and one away _ against teams from the other conference.

___

THIS 'N THAT:@ Lakers coach Phil Jackson has decided to abandon the scheme of having Kobe Bryant defend the primary ballhandler on opposing teams. Gary Payton will now have that assignment, with Bryant going back to defending shooting guards. ... Antonio McDyess could return to the New York Knicks during the early part of next week after recovering from two surgeries on his fractured kneecap. McDyess has still not played a regular-season game for New York, which traded Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the draft rights to Nene Hilario to Denver for him in June, 2002. ... The most disappointing start belongs to the Orlando Magic, who opened 0-6 at home and won't get another opportunity for that elusive first home win until Nov. 24. Their next five games are on the road against Denver, the Clippers, Utah, Phoenix and Sacramento. Tracy McGrady and Juwan Howard are both shooting below 40 percent. ... Utah's Andrei Kirilenko (36-for-36), New Orleans' Steve Smith (18-for-18) and the Clippers' Quentin Richardson (12-for-12) entered the weekend without a miss from the free throw line. ... New fashion statement? After picking up a technical foul in Portland's 112-110 comeback victory over Sacramento on Thursday night, Rasheed Wallace yanked his headband down in frustration. He played the rest of the night with his headband around his neck and had one of his best games of the season with 26 points.

Sonics guard Ray Allen had a bone chip and some cartilage removed from his right ankle in a November 1st surgery. He spoke to reporters about his injury for the first time on Saturday and said he hopes to return before the 6 to 8 week time frame given by doctors.

"As quick as a healer as I have been over the years ... I think that allows me a speedier recovery hopefully," said Allen, who arrived at the Sonics' practice facility on crutches. "They said 6-to-8 (weeks). I would like to be back before that timeline. When we go on the road in early December, I want to be playing by then. That is just what I want. What the doctor wants is totally different."

SEATTLE (AP) _ A horn malfunction delayed Friday night's game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle SuperSonics for 15 minutes late in the third quarter.

The horn began to sound during a stop in play with 1 minute, 6 seconds remaining on the clock. When it became apparent it wasn't going to immediately stop, players returned to their benches and officials conferred near midcourt.

The horn finally stopped when team officials turned off the scoreboard above center court. But the game was held up for another 10 minutes as technicians continued to work on the problem and referees spoke to coaches.

Sonics chairman Howard Schultz left his courtside seat and approached the scoring table to investigate. An acrobatic team that had performed at halftime returned to the floor, drawing cheers.

Players stayed on the floor, jumping to stay loose or just standing near the benches.

The game resumed with the scoreboard turned off, but with smaller clocks above the 24-second clocks functioning.

"People call me Flip," Ronald Murray said. "When I was younger I got the nickname. I did gymnastics. I used to flip all the time, so everybody used to tell me flip here, flip there.

" 'You're always flipping. Your new name is Flip now.' I got that when I was 10 or 11. And now everybody calls me Flip. That's the story."