Bah humbug — McMillan hardly still in holiday spirit

Nate, you don’t seem like your usually jolly self today.

“Well, what did you guys expect?”

Blazers coach Nate McMillan has been fielding the same questions for weeks now and has graciously responded with the same answers.

Are the injuries frustrating?

“You’re numb to that right now.”

Is Brandon Roy going to play?

“He’s not going tonight.”

Reporters fired the same litany of questions at the sixth-year coach at shootaround today, but this time he wasn’t even feigning enthusiasm.

He said that Roy will not play tonight against Utah, which will mark the seventh straight game the shooting guard has missed. But he refused to go into much further detail — saying only that Roy “has been doing some shooting.”

When pressed as to whether Roy has undergone more tests, McMillan grew more defensive.

“Guys,” he said, “he won’t go tonight. As I said, he’s been doing some shooting.”

Later a TV reporter asked McMillan about his relationship with Blazers general manager, Rich Cho, to which McMillan replied, “GM and coach…it’s a good relationship.”

When the reporter then asked if the two talked daily, McMillan responded, “what is this about? I’ll talk about the team, I’ll talk about Utah, but I don’t think this is appropriate.”

Joel Przybilla (ankle) will also be out tonight. Marcus Camby (right ankle) said he’ll play, but McMillan said he’s a game-time decision.