Injured Boozer will miss tonight's game

The Jazz were reminded the hard way Saturday night of just how much Carlos Boozer means to their offense, and will get another taste of what it takes to play without their starting power forward tonight.

Boozer has been declared out for this evening's home game against New Jersey, and is considered doubtful for Wednesday night's meeting with San Antonio at EnergySolutions Arena.

Beyond that, though, the Jazz had no timetable Sunday night for Boozer's anticipated return from a bruised left knee sustained when he bumped knees with Hornets center Tyson Chandler fewer than four minutes into Saturday's loss at Oklahoma City.

They expect to release more information on their leading scorer and rebounder today, including results of an MRI exam performed Sunday afternoon.

"I don't have a whole lot of info," Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said Sunday night. "If anything, we'd want to sit down with the docs."

X-rays taken Saturday in Oklahoma City were negative. Boozer's knee was still swollen Sunday, however, and he was less than fully mobile.

Further complicating matters for the Jazz is the status of starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko, who sat out Saturday due to a sprained right ankle sustained in Friday's win over Denver.

Kirilenko did express Saturday that there is a slim chance he may be available to play against the Nets, and he said he doesn't expect to be out longer than a few days, but the team is dubbing him as doubtful for tonight.

If Boozer's previous injury history in Utah is any indication, meanwhile, his absence could be extended.

He missed 31 games two seasons ago because of a foot injury and 49 last season with a bad hamstring, a telling indicator of his value as the Jazz could not muster a winning record, let alone make the NBA playoffs, in those two seasons.

Utah was similarly inept after Boozer, a candidate to be named Thursday as a Western Conference reserve for next month's NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, exited against the Hornets.

Its offense fell to pieces in his absence, and the Jazz — who wound up shooting just 37.5 percent from the field, which is more than 10 percent off their season average — never could take a lead.

"A lot of what we do revolves around him offensively," starting shooting guard Derek Fisher said of Boozer. "Defensively, his rebounding and the way he controls the boards are big things for us.

"Without that anchor guy that we normally throw the ball to and work around," Fisher added, "we just never found a flow to the game."