Font ResizeFor the fifth consecutive game, the Jazz were down to just nine players Saturday against Detroit. Mehmet Okur went home from the pregame shootaround, still suffering flu-like symptoms, and did not play against his former team.
"That's our normal number this year," Deron Williams cracked. "We're used to it."
Already missing Matt Harpring , C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver to start the season, the Jazz lost Ronnie Price to a sprained left big toe Nov. 9 against New York. Okur, meanwhile, was sick for a third straight game, though he doesn't have the H1N1 virus.
The Jazz opted to start Kyrylo Fesenko in Okur's absence. Wesley Matthews remained in the starting lineup, where he was joined last weekend by fellow rookie Eric Maynor while Williams left the team with his daughter undergoing medical testing.
"We've got three guys that are getting to play that maybe never would have gotten a chance to play if hadn't been for all the injuries," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Hopefully, that will help them become better players and realize that hard work will make them better."
Despite their depleted ranks, the Jazz came into Saturday having won three of their last four games, ending a decade-long losing streak in San Antonio with a victory Thursday.
"We learned to deal with it last year, I think, with all the injuries we had last year," Williams said.
Miles continues to make progress in his recovery from left thumb surgery. He has worked out with assistant Tyrone Corbin in recent days, but remains uncertain about his return. Miles' foremost concern is not reinjuring his thumb.
"[Friday] I had a really good [workout] and I've been shooting the ball better and better as time's gone on," Miles said.
Pistons payback?
Carlos Boozer said he wasn't thinking about payback against the Pistons, who opted to sign Ben Gordon (five years, $58 million) and Charlie Villanueva (five years, $37.7 million) last summer as free agents rather than pursuing Boozer.
"Not at all," Boozer said. "No worries about that at all. Not at all."
No answer
Having played with Allen Iverson his first three seasons in Philadelphia, Korver admitted being surprised at the lack of interest in Iverson following his release in Memphis. Even the Knicks opted Friday to take a much-publicized pass on signing Iverson.
"With everything he's done, you'd think someone would pick him up," Korver said. "But he's not fitting in people's plans, I guess."
"I'm surprised because he's such a great player, but I'm not surprised because of how he's going about things," Williams added. "You can't demand to start on every team. It's not going to happen. But that's how he feels."
It's a remote possibility, but could Iverson work in Utah? Sloan praised him as a "tough competitor," but from first-hand experience, Korver said: "I don't think he'd fit in here very well. I don't think it would work out well. I don't think he wants to be here."
