Mentally and physically exhausted from a long trip that included a team-wide flu bug and several injuries, Seattle SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan took it easy on his charges Wednesday.

After a difficult loss Tuesday to the Portland Trail Blazers, McMillan essentially gave his starters the day off from practice while his younger players ended the day playing some three-on-three, half-court basketball that came to an abrupt conclusion when rookie Vladimir Radmanovic went down following a hard collision with Desmond Mason.

"Players start to tune the coach out," McMillan said. "It's like a broken record. Sometimes you have to step away from it."

McMillan - with the help of an objective coaching staff - has done a pretty good job this season of recognizing when to push his players and when to back off.

He sensed that his intensity was beginning to grind the players down, so he delivered an unexpected tonic.

But he will have to revert to his intense ways tonight, when the Sonics play host to Sacramento, the team with the best record in the NBA - though once again the teams will meet without Kings All-Star power forward Chris Webber.

Webber was suspended for the game after the league deemed that an elbow he threw at Utah rookie Jarron Collins in the Kings' previous game Saturday was intentional.

Webber was fined $7,500 and suspended for this game, which will cost him 1/82 of his $12.75 million salary. This comes after Webber missed the season opener against Seattle with a severely sprained ankle (a Kings victory), and the teams' second meeting Dec. 19 with tendinitis in that sprained ankle (a Sonics win).

"They beat us without Webber before," McMillan said. "They are a very good team, a top team in the league. We have to prepare for them just as if Webber was there. They have more of a threat playing smallball, they have a strong bench ... and they are a very dangerous team, with or without Webber."

Sonics forward Vin Baker, meanwhile, said he will play tonight after aggravating a sprained left shoulder in the Sonics' loss to Portland.

"Hopefully, tomorrow I can give it another shot," Baker said. "We need wins and my team needs me."

Baker said he re-injured the shoulder when he made an awkward spin move on Rasheed Wallace, forcing his body one way and his shoulder the other.

Sonics point guard Gary Payton also is ailing, suffering from an injury to his left shin.

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* Reach staff writer Frank Hughes at 253-597-8742, ext. 6120, or frank.hughes@mail.tribnet.com

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SIDEBAR: GAME DAY

Matchup - Sacramento Kings at Sonics

When - 7 p.m., KeyArena

TV - KONG

Radio - 950-AM

The series - The teams have split two meetings this season, each winning at home.

Scouting report - Kings All-Star power forward Chris Webber was suspended by the league for the game, the third time in three meetings Webber has missed the Sonics this season. Vin Baker, suffering from a sprained left shoulder, said he will play. Gary Payton, with a bruised left shin, also is expected to play. The Sonics had their two-game win streak snapped with a loss to Portland on Tuesday. This is the second game in a stretch in which the Sonics play seven of eight games at home.

Next - 7 p.m., Saturday, vs. Chicago Bulls, Key-

Arena.

Tonight's game could be a shootout.

It could be played at a blistering pace, with end-to-end action, featuring buckets galore and a final score of 118-117.

It could be fun.

The matchup: Sacramento vs. Seattle, two of the NBA's most accurate teams, squaring off at KeyArena.

The circumstances: Both teams have power-forward problems.

Chris Webber won't play for the Kings, suspended by the NBA for one game after throwing an elbow at Utah's Jarron Collins last Saturday. Webber will miss his third consecutive game against the Sonics after sitting out the first two with a sprained ankle.

Vin Baker might not play for the Sonics after aggravating his bruised left shoulder Tuesday night in a 92-86 loss to Portland.

Originally injured in Milwaukee last Thursday, Baker twisted his shoulder trying to make a move on the Blazers' Rasheed Wallace in the third quarter.

The fact that X-rays were negative is a positive. But little else is. Baker feels stinging pain when he raises his shoulder. Although he's right-handed, the injury still affects his shot.

As evidence, Baker, a 50-percent shooter, went 3-for-10 against the Blazers.

"With the pain, it's tough to concentrate on making the shot," Baker said.

Off the court he has a difficult time with the simplest things, like putting on clothes. He also can't sleep on his left side.

But he wants to play. The team considers him questionable for tonight's game. Baker lists himself as probable.

"I want to try to help my team win basketball games," he said. "There is some degree of pain, regardless. There's no sense in staying out."

If forced to play without their biggest inside threats, the Kings and Sonics might engage in a fast-breaking affair that emphasizes their athleticism and ability to drain pull-up and spot-up jumpers.

Although the Sonics are plenty capable, that kind of game would favor the deeper, more versatile Kings, who arrive with the best record in the NBA at 33-10.

Sacramento also is used to playing without Webber, who has missed 23 games this season because of his ankle injury.

Vlade Divac supplies another effective offensive weapon on the block, and Scot Pollard figures to grab many of the rebounds that would have gone to Webber.

The Kings also have all of those freelancing, fluid types like Peja Stojakovic, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson and Hedo Turkoglu, just to name five. Seven Kings score in double figures.

If the Sonics have to compensate for Baker in the paint, coach Nate McMillan can call upon, well, uh ... no one in particular.

Gary Payton has the best low-post moves, but he's a guard who needs to direct and distribute to maximize his teammates' potential. Other back-to-the-basket options, Desmond Mason and Rashard Lewis, were snuffed by the Blazers.

"After that, we're limited with who we can go with," McMillan said.

The coach didn't even discuss rebounding, probably because it is not his favorite subject.

With Baker's 6.6 rebounds a game, the Sonics are 28th in rebounding in a 29-team league. Without them, they might be 30th tomorrow morning after crashing the glass with the second-ranked Kings.

The Sonics have yet another problem: without Baker, they don't have an inside-out game, precluding many of the open perimeter shots that his teammates normally get.

In spite of statistical data that points to a Kings victory, the Sonics have a shot at the upset. They already beat Sacramento, 104-92, on Dec. 19 at KeyArena.

In addition, for a supposed championship contender, the Kings tend to stumble when they are not playing in front of their electrified fans at ARCO Arena. They are 9-9 on the road, a sign that Rick Adelman's team can be had tonight.

SONICS VS. KINGS

WHEN: Tonight at 7

WHERE: KeyArena

TV/RADIO: KONG/6, 16; KJR-AM/950

RECORDS: Kings 33-10, Sonics 23-21. Season series tied 1-1, with Kings winning 101-95 in Sacramento on Nov. 1 and Sonics winning 104-92 at KeyArena on Dec. 19.

INJURY REPORT: Kings: G Mateen Cleaves (sore foot) is out. Sonics: C Calvin Booth (ankle tendinitis) is out. F Vin Baker (bruised shoulder) is questionable.

SCOUTING REPORT: Kings have won 14 of their past 15 games. Their only loss in the past month was Jan. 22 at Portland, when the Blazers prevailed 116-110 in OT. Kings are coming off an impressive 114-90 victory at Utah Saturday night, in which Peja Stojakovic scored 25 points and Scot Pollard had 15 rebounds. ... Kings second in the league in shooting (.464) and scoring (104.4). ... Rainier Beach graduate Doug Christie returns to his hometown, averaging 13.2 points and 1.7 steals. He scored his season high of 23 points in most recent game here, a 104-92 loss on Dec. 19. ... Kings will miss suspended Chris Webber's 24.6 points and 10 rebounds, but Stojakovic should offset any offensive worries: the 6-foot-9 forward averages 22.8 points

OUTLOOK: Kings have more of everything, but the Sonics have been playing well of late, the loss to Portland notwithstanding. If forced to play without Baker, Sonics need to create with penetration, trying to free up the best perimeter firing squad in the league. The hunch is that Sacramento will be gunned down tonight.

LINE: Pick 'em

P-I PICK: Sonics, 110-102

When: 7 tonight.
Where: KeyArena.

Records: Sonics 23-21, Kings 33-10.

TV: KONG (Channel 6/16). Radio: KJR (950 AM).

P SONICS Ht. Ppg. R/A
C Art Long 6-9 4.9 4.5/R
F Vin Baker 6-11 16.5 6.6/R
F Rashard Lewis 6-10 16.8 7.3/R
G Brent Barry 6-6 13.0 5.6/R
G Gary Payton 6-4 23.0 9.1/A
P KINGS Ht. Ppg. R/A
C Vlade Divac 7-1 11.3 8.6/R
F Scot Pollard 6-11 6.1 7.7/R
F Peja Stojakovic 6-9 22.8 5.4/R
G Doug Christie 6-6 13.2 4.9/R
G Mike Bibby 6-1 14.1 5.0/A

Notes: Vin Baker participated in noncontact drills in yesterday's practice. Seattle's 6-foot-11 power forward aggravated his strained left shoulder in the third quarter of Tuesday's 92-86 loss to Portland. But Baker intends to play tonight. ... Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic have been named to the Western All-Star team as reserves.

Injuries: Sonics ? C Calvin Booth (right ankle) is on the injured list. Kings ? G Mateen Cleaves (plantar fasciitis) won't play.

The NBA suspended Sacramento All-Star forward Chris Webber for one game and fined him $7,500 for deliberately throwing an elbow at the head of Jazz rookie Jarron Collins during the Kings' 114-90 win over Utah on Saturday at the Delta Center.
   
Webber also will lose about $155,000 of his $12.75 million salary because of the suspension, which will prevent him from playing tonight against Seattle.
   
With 9:58 left in the third quarter, Webber was called for a flagrant foul after running down the floor and -- away from the ball -- hitting a surprised-looking Collins in the face.
   
"The league makes those decisions," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations. "They review every flagrant foul and, just like last year, when Karl [Malone] backhanded Christian Laettner, they felt it was intentional and a blow to the head. . . . Based on that, they made the decision to suspend" Webber.

Vlade Divac as the Kings' most valuable player over the first half of this season? We can do that. Most days, it doesn't even feel like a stretch.

Geoff Petrie will almost go that far, in fact, and Petrie likes to anoint individual favorites about as much as he likes to hop up on the bar and do the macarena. But the Kings' president understands that, in the confluence of nearly impossible-to-separate factors that got Sacramento off to the searing start that has led to this 33-10 standing, Divac was huge from the beginning.

"Certainly starting like that," Petrie said Wednesday as the Kings prepared to fly to Seattle to face the SuperSonics tonight. "And Mike (Bibby) being new, totally new. And the way we play, he (Divac) is the fulcrum of a lot of what we do offensively."

If you watched Saturday's nationally televised Utah-Sacramento game, you may have seen Chris Webber's elbow to the face of rookie Jarron Collins. On Wednesday, the NBA proved that league officials were apparently watching too.

Webber was fined $7500 and suspended for Thursday's game at Seattle for the flagrant foul. He will be missing his 24th game of the season, the previous 23 due to an ankle injury.

Sacramento, which has the best record in the NBA at 33-10, has managed to play well in his absence, going 16-7 in games without Webber.

This is the Kings second visit to Seattle, and Webber will have missed both games.

The Associated Press reports:

"Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber was suspended Wednesday for one game and fined $7,500 for deliberately throwing an elbow to the head of Utah's Jarron Collins last week.

Webber will miss the Kings' game Thursday against Seattle. He was called for a flagrant foul for hitting Collins last Saturday, and the NBA imposed the suspension."

The announcement Tuesday that Kings starting forwards Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic had been voted onto the Western Conference All-Star team was old news for the former and enough to make the latter endanger himself and others.

"It was 8:30 in the morning when (Kings media relations director) Troy Hanson called me," said Stojakovic, who will join his teammate in the Feb. 10 NBA All-Star Game at the First Union Center in Philadelphia.

The news wasn't all good for Chris Webber on Tuesday.

According to league sources, Webber will receive a one-game suspension for throwing and landing an elbow to the chin of Utah rookie Jarron Collins during Saturday's 114-90 victory over the Jazz.

That means he'll miss Thursday night's game in Seattle.

Webber received a flagrant foul for the incident during the game, but the league reviewed the tape and decided on the one-game penalty.

Sitting courtside during Tuesday morning's Kings workout was president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie.

And who better to celebrate the All-Star selections of Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber than the man responsible for bringing them to Sacramento.

If ever there were a chance to gloat ... the person deserving of the chance is Petrie. He's the man who had to explain to a noisy crowd at Arco Arena on draft day in 1996 why he was choosing Stojakovic with the 14th pick.