Stack bides his time

The strained right groin that has sidelined Jerry Stackhouse for the last seven games isn’t as painful as just sitting on the sidelines. His competitive streak has been put to the test over the last two weeks.

“It’s mental,” he said, “when you can’t really participate in the fun part of it, practice, games and you’re on the sideline doing tube walking.”

Avery Johnson has tried to ease Stackhouse’s mind by passing along a Bible passage dealing with perseverance. Stackhouse has also been on the phone with mom often.

Stackhouse remains on schedule to possibly return on the upcoming road trip. He said earlier in the week that Sunday at Seattle is the target date, which has him back for the last two games of the regular season.

“If it’s Game 7 right now, I’d be out there,” Stackhouse said. “But it’s not.”

Johnson would like to see him for at least 16-18 minutes in the finale Wednesday if he can’t go against the Sonics.