"It's right on that bone," Brewer said at the pregame shootaround. "It doesn't sound too serious, but whenever I try to go out there and play I can't really move like I want to, like I know I can."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said he would start C.J. Miles in Brewer's place, preferring to keep Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring in their regular roles coming off the bench. Sloan did the same thing Monday when Andrei Kirilenko was sick for a game.

"Those guys kind of know when they're going in the game," Sloan said. "The people off the bench, they're really critical for you and these guys play well off the bench. That's helped us."

He added: "I'd like to keep them in their rhythm because they play a lot of minutes most of the time anyway."

The Jazz will be bidding to win their 11th consecutive game Friday. Brewer suffered the injury when he fell hard thanks to a Kenyon Martin flagrant foul in the third quarter of the Jazz's victory over Denver.

He has been icing his lower back around the clock trying to get the swelling to decrease. Brewer, who had started all 50 games this season, said he was hopeful of playing Saturday night against Chicago.