Tracy McGrady is on the inactive list for Houston tonight, resting his sore left shoulder. Luther Head will start in place of McGrady.

Starters for Seattle are the same, with Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nick Collison and Johan Petro.

For Houston, Rafer Alston, who missed three games with a strained hamstring and did not play against the Sonics in Seattle a week ago, will start at point guard tonight. Head will start for McGrady, along with Shane Battier, Luis Scola and Dikembe Mutombo.

Carlesimo said it will be important for the Sonics to get easy buckets in transition, get to the free-throw line and hit the boards offensively for easy putbacks because of the Rockets' effectiveness on defense.

Carlesimo said he’s unsure what the summer plans will be for his trio of young centers: Robert Swift, Mouhamed Sene and Johan Petro. Although regarding Swift and Sene, Carlesimo said the most important thing is the two get healthy after suffering knee injuries.

Carlesimo and the Sonics will make their first trip to San Antonio on Friday. Carlesimo said it will be a different feeling being on the other sideline.

“I’ve never coached in that building on the other bench, so it will be a very different feeling,” Carlesimo said. “But again when you go in, and you’re in the other locker room it’s just not the same.”

Listen to the full conversation with Carlesimo here.

The News Tribune reporter Wendy Carpenter caught up with Matt Griffin, spokesperson for the private investment group headed by Steve Ballmer that recently announced along with the City of Seattle it was pulling its deal to revamp KeyArena.

Here’s what Griffin had to say.

“First of all, in all of our conversations we've had with mayor (Greg Nickels), we've been impressed with his leadership.

“It seems clear now that when Olympia passed it back to the city, it probably died then. But we didn't realize that at the time.

“(Nickels) has called me in the last week, and asked if I keep an open mind. We’ve left it as there is no plan (moving forward) but we'll keep an open mind.

“I haven't talked with the other investors (since the city's announcement Tuesday) but it doesn't matter whether it's in the next two weeks, or two months.”

ON WHAT DO GRIFFIN AND THE OTHER INVESTORS DO NOW?

“I go back to my day job, and we'll continue to keep an open mind.”

Also, 3 Shades of Blue, a blog that follows the Memphis Grizzlies, interviewed Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley. The interview includes Heisley talking about what happened with the Grizzlies in Vancouver that led to the team moving to Memphis, and what the current situation is with the team right now. It’s definitely worth a read, and offers an interesting look into how NBA owners think.

Here’s our story by reporter Wendy Carpenter on Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announcement that the deal to remodel KeyArena is done.

Wendy also was nice enough to provide a transcript of Nickels’ press conference, which you can find below.

On the court in Dallas the Sonics played solid for three quarters but faltered in the fourth.

I talked to Nick Collison after the game and he emphasized the Sonics continuing to be professional and playing hard throughout the end of the season. Listen to that conversation here.

Nickels’ press conference transcript.

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