Sometimes, Nate McMillan will suit up in Sonics practice gear and jump into drills or scrimmages with his players to demonstrate an offensive or defensive set.

Every so often, the Sonics coach will dress and run just as a way to stay in shape.

Yesterday at practice, McMillan, his green practice jersey over a white polo shirt, had no such luxuries. The Sonics, down to just nine healthy players, needed a 10th man to run their scrimmage.

Several Sonics players and coaches have been fighting the flu bug, McMillan included. During the final two days of the team's most recent road trip, guards Gary Payton and Desmond Mason were sick, along with McMillan and assistant coach Bob Weiss.

To compound matters, McMillan said forward Vin Baker is questionable to play against the Portland Trail Blazers tonight with pain in his shoulder, though Baker's injury is a bone contusion and not the sprain it was thought to be. Baker was limited to non-contact drills yesterday.

"It's still sore," Baker said of his left shoulder. "Hopefully it will get better by (today). I'm going to have to, at some point, play with some pain in it."

If Baker does not play tonight, Jerome James will likely start at center in Baker's place. Mason and Payton appeared healthy and practiced yesterday.

With McMillan on the court, guard Shammond Williams sniffled and hacked on the sideline, bundled up in winter street clothes. Forward Vladimir Radmanovic also missed practice because of illness, and center Calvin Booth is still on the injured list with a sprained ankle.

"We're limited with the amount of guys we can lose," McMillan said. "We can't afford to lose really anybody in our rotation. We're really having to scramble and basically, it's a chess match trying to fit guys in."

Brent Barry was one of the healthy Sonics yesterday.

"We have a little bit of a sick bay going here," Barry said, "but come game time I expect those guys to get out there and suck it up and pull together."

McMillan helped the Sonics' Green squad (second unit) beat the starting five (minus Baker) by six points in yesterday's scrimmage.

In fact, his steal in the final minute of the game helped sealed the scrimmage's outcome, but not before McMillan missed a layup all alone following the steal.

McMillan said he was battling a head cold and chills, but was satisfied with his effort.

"I thought I did good," McMillan said. "I still have game. I'm a little concerned that we beat that first unit, and we have a game (tonight). With me out on the floor and some of the plays that I was making, they couldn't respond to what I was doing."

McMillan acknowledged, tongue-in-cheek, that he could have played better transition defense and could have blocked out on rebounds more effectively.

"I won't run away from a bad night like some of our guys do," he said. "I'll tell you the truth."

The truth? Sonics players liked seeing their coach out on the court.

"You can tell he's serious about practicing," forward Rashard Lewis said. "I was hoping to drive past him, because I knew he wasn't going to be able to move on defense."

"His first two shots were nothing but net," forward Art Long said. "I was just saying to myself, 'I wonder why he stopped playing.' It must have been something he really wanted to do as far as coaching."

Barry, as is his sense of humor, was good for a sarcastic analysis of his coach's play.

"He made a lot of shots, which is fool's gold," Barry quipped. "He makes a three-pointer, he thinks he's a shooter all of a sudden.

"I hope somebody got on tape his missed layup there at the end. You couldn't slip a credit card under his feet on that layup. But we needed him today."