Ronnie Brewer had hoped to play Saturday night but did not.

Instead, the Jazz's usual starting shooting guard sat out Utah's 97-87 win over Chicago due to his severely bruised tailbone.

It was the second straight game missed by Brewer, who was hurt when he got yanked to the floor by Denver big man Kenyon Martin during last Wednesday's win over the Nuggets.

"It's right on that bone," said Brewer, who has been icing the sore spot heavily. "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."

With Brewer out, reserve swingman C.J. Miles made a second-straight start at shooting guard.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan replaced Miles with combo guard Ronnie Price in the opening lineup for the second half of Friday's loss at Sacramento, but he stuck with Miles on Saturday.

Miles actually has opened three of the Jazz's last four games, including one at small forward when Andrei Kirilenko was out due to flu-like symptoms. Miles finished with seven points and shot 3-of-7 from the field against the Bulls, making him 7-for-14 in the three starts.

HE WROTE IT: ESPNInsider.com's John Hollinger, wrote recently about ex-Jazz forward Kris Humphries. Toronto acquired Utah's one-time first-round draft choice in a trade for Rafael Araujo, the former BYU big man now playing in Russia:

"While he doesn't fit in with Toronto's space-the-floor-with-shooters concept, Humphries is the team's lone dose of physicality and rebounding muscle ... making (Raptors basketball boss) Bryan Colangelo's decision to sign him to a low-cost extension before the season look like a master stroke. Or rather, a second master stroke.

"The original master stroke was trading for him in the first place, in return for epic lottery bust Rafael Araujo. And Toronto Star writer Doug Smith has since dubbed Humphries 'Not-Haffa-Bad.' Sure, Humphries has his weaknesses: He's still way too shot-happy, he fouls a lot and his D can be sloppy at times. But if my alternatives are (Andrea) Bargnani and Rasho Nesterovic, this guy is the clear winner. That's why I suspect that by playoff time he'll have a much bigger role."

MISC.: Jazz backup power forward Paul Millsap played with eight stitches in the area of his left eyebrow, the result of a cut sustained Friday ... A small bloody spot that backup shooting guard Kyle Korver was sporting on his right cheek was picked up in the Sacramento game as well ... That familiar face on the Bulls bench belonged to former Jazz big man Mike "Big Brown Bear" Brown, who recently joined Chicago's staff as an assistant coach.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com