"I'm trying to be contribute anyhow," he said, adding the contribution might be as subtle as getting out quickly on a fast break and drawing the defense so teammates have a better chance to score.

And of course there's the defense against Bryant, the league's newly crowned MVP. Kirilenko usually starts the game guarding forward Vladimir Radmanovic but takes long turns on Bryant.

Kirilenko fouled out of three straight games, but he stayed on the court Sunday by giving Bryant a bit more distance and not reaching toward him. He said he'll try that again Wednesday. "I will try to play like yesterday (Sunday), kind of step little bit back and force him to shoot the ball through the hand and avoid those layups.

"I think he's way more dangerous when he goes in, create those fouls and trying to finish-and-one rather than just shooting."

Kirilenko also guarded Houston's Tracy McGrady, but staying with Bryant is harder. "It's whole different story. It's different type of guarding, and it's ... it's ... hell," said Kirilenko. "Whole time you're playing against him, you're expecting something. You can't really get close. You can't really give him a space, so it's a game."

Told that Bryant had complimented him after Sunday's game, Kirilenko said, "Well, thank you, but you know I hope I can stay with your game for a few more games so we can win."

The Jazz made it to the 2007 Western Conference Finals with a then-unhappy Kirilenko playing tentatively, so perhaps his wish to win a few more will materialize with him feeling sunnier.

"I think he's having a great playoffs," said the man who replaces him off the bench, Matt Harpring. "I think he's doing as well as you can ask him to do."

Teammates say this season's Kirilenko is more sure of himself. "His confidence is better. He's feeling better about himself," Harpring said. "I think he's a little bit looser. When your confidence is shaken and the pressure starts getting to you, it's hard. You can just tell that he's much more relaxed this year."

Williams agreed, "You can tell he's more upbeat now. It's just confidence, that's the main thing. It's allowing him to do things on the court."

"He seems to be a lot more comfortable playing basketball than he was a year ago," Sloan said.

"He's a lot different," Ronnie Brewer added. "It just seems like he's happier when he plays. It's just like the basketball wasn't fun to him (last year).

"He's still a good guy, still same ol' AK, still reading books. It's good to see that he's back on track and that he's happy to play basketball again."

Andrei Kirilenko's numbers

2007-08 stats ... Points ... Rebounds ... Assists ... Blocks
Regular season ... 11.0 ... 4.7 ... 4.0 ... 1.5
Playoffs ... 10.8 ... 3.5 ... 2.5 ... 1.8

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com