SALT LAKE CITY — It didn’t take long Thursday to surmise that Andrei Kirilenko would not be making a dramatic return from his strained left calf for tonight’s Game 6 against the Nuggets.
As the Jazz filtered onto the court for practice, Kirilenko could be found shooting standstill jumpers with assistant coach Jeff Hornacek.
Although his calf has healed, Kirilenko said he still needs to rebuild strength.
“I want to play if I can play for (even) three, four minutes, but I’m not sure if I can even be at one position against anybody,” Kirilenko added.
Kirilenko’s biggest concern is being able to stick with anybody — not just Carmelo Anthony — on the defensive end. Kirilenko has missed 20 of the Jazz’s last 22 games since he originally injured his calf March 12 in Milwaukee.
Staying centered.
With the Nuggets losing Nene for Game 6, the Jazz is preparing for a different look from Denver with Chris Andersen and Johan Petro playing bigger roles.
“I think they’ll become a faster team with those guys in there than they are when Nene’s out there,” Deron Williams said.
Carlos Boozer hadn’t seen the play in which Nene went down, but he heard from a friend that he might have kicked Nene by accident. Boozer expressed hope Nene wasn’t injured seriously.
The end?
If the Jazz ends up losing Games 6 and 7, tonight’s game could be the last for Boozer in Utah after six seasons. Boozer will become a free agent this summer, and the Jazz’s commitment to re-signing him remains to be seen.
Asked if he had thought about the possibility that tonight’s game could be his last in Utah, Boozer said simply, “Not at all.”
Footnotes.
Williams said the Jazz wasn’t concerned about the Nuggets drawing confidence for tonight’s game from their 105-95 victory Jan. 2 in Utah without Anthony and Chauncey Billups. “We’re not the same team now that we were then,” Williams said. “They can take it however they want to, but we feel we’re a better team than that.” . . . The Jazz was 7-0 in TNT- televised games this season before losing Wednesday.
