Kirilenko's absence was cleared with the team beforehand, Fleisher said, though the timing was curious with the Jazz facing elimination in tonight's Game 6 against the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
Kirilenko apparently would have had to wait another month to schedule an appointment to obtain the visas. The Jazz said Kirilenko would play tonight.
Mr. Wronged
The conflict between Kyle Korver and Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic in this series came into full view in the fourth quarter of Game 5, when Vujacic jawed with Korver and was called for a technical foul with 2:41 left in what was a five-point game.
"He thinks he's getting wronged all the time on the floor and I don't understand it," Korver said. "But, you know, whatever. I don't feel like I'm playing him any more physical than anyone normally plays anybody. He just feels like he's getting the raw end of the deal a lot, which is ridiculous."
Korver and Vujacic each finished with six points in Wednesday's game, though Vujacic shot just 1-for-11 overall and 1-for-8 from three-point range.
Push it
There was little consensus in the Jazz camp Thursday on whether Mehmet Okur was pushed in the back by Pau Gasol or flopped trying to sell a loose-ball foul before Gasol's follow-up dunk with 20.5 seconds left in Game 5.
"He pushed me," Okur said. "It should have been foul. I don't know. It's tough call. I felt he pushed me and I was going to go get the rebound. He pushed me so I was lean forward. It's tough."
"Little bit of a flop, too," Deron Williams said. "He got pushed a little bit. I don't know if it was that bad."
Kobe update
After complaining that his back felt "really, really tight" and "pretty sore" after Game 5, Kobe Bryant sat out practice Thursday, along with Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Gasol.
Talking after the game, Bryant was under no illusion that closing out the Jazz would be easy.
"That's a Jerry Sloan team," Bryant said. "They're going to keep coming. They don't know anything else. They're going to keep coming."
rsiler@sltrib.com
