NBA 24—second clock

Like many with pro basketball ties to Seattle, Nate McMillan has been holding out hope that something could be done to keep the SuperSonics in the city.

So it was hard not to be disappointed during All-Star weekend when NBA commissioner David Stern said he sees no chance of that happening.

"When your commissioner speaks and he says something like that, it really grabs everybody's attention," McMillan said. "Until they're gone, I think the city is going to fight to try to keep them there as long as possible. But yeah, those were huge words by commissioner Stern."

McMillan, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, is known as "Mr. Sonic" for his years as a player and coach in Seattle. Two of his players, Brandon Roy and Martell Webster, are from Seattle, joining the likes of New York's Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson, and Jason Terry of Dallas as current NBA players from the Emerald City.

And Crawford wonders if not having an NBA team in Seattle will affect how many future kids get interested in basketball.

"I struck up a relationship with Gary Payton, and he kind of took me under his wing and I was able to be around the facility and stuff like that," Crawford said. "It'd be disheartening not to have a team there. Kids grow up watching that. You grow up watching Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, guys like that. Nate McMillan."

The Sonics could end up in Oklahoma City as early as next season if Seattle is unable to force the team to fulfill the remainder of its lease at Key Arena, which runs through 2010.

A last-ditch attempt by a group of wealthy investors to buy the team and keep it in Seattle with publicly funded improvements to the arena seems unlikely. State lawmakers said there's not enough time to consider their proposal, and owner Clay Bennett, who's from Oklahoma City, has shown no interest in selling the team. ...

The Houston Rockets' record-setting winning streak became big business.

The streak reached 22 wins, second-longest in NBA history, before the Boston Celtics beat the Rockets 94-74 on Tuesday night. That game delivered a 1.7 national rating for TNT, the network's highest-rated game in the regular season since Chicago's victory against Miami in the 2006-07 season opener.

The NBA celebrated the streak with the creation of a T-shirt reading, "Houston Rockets, Where winning streaks happen," above the No. 22. The shirt began selling Friday at NBAstore.com for $17.99.