Utah Jazz: A.K.'s travel plans were Jazz's least concern
That seemed to be Game 7 and not the Eiffel Tower, the French Riviera or crusty baguettes.
In the final 43 seconds, Kirilenko drilled two 3-pointers, blocked a Kobe Bryant layup and pulled down a rebound, helping the Utah Jazz rally to nearly force overtime.
But for the Jazz and Kirilenko, who had a whirlwind of a couple of days, the late surge proved to be too little, too late. As far as Kirilenko was concerned, it might have also put to rest the theory that a distracted Kirilenko was ready for his European vacation to begin.
"I don't think about anything else," Kirilenko said after Game 6.
But whether "visagate" was a distraction for him and the Jazz or not, this much is clear now: The NBA playoffs will no longer distract any of them from booking family trips. The Lakers cleared up the rest of their summer.
Au revoir, Utah. Bonjour, France.
Kirilenko offered a solution to prevent any future foreign travel concerns.
But leading up to the Western Conference semifinal finale, much was made about Kirilenko's decision to miss practice Thursday so he could resolve travel paperwork issues for his family.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan claimed the situation was his fault. Kirilenko had explained his paperwork plight and Sloan granted him permission to leave after practice. A miscommunication arose, however, because Kirilenko thought practice was going to be at 10 a.m. and made flight plans to the Bay Area accordingly. Because Wednesday's game was late and the Jazz didn't arrive back in Salt Lake City until the middle of the night, Sloan pushed back the time of practice until 11:30 a.m.
Kirilenko returned in time from his team-approved detour to the San Francisco embassy to make Friday's shootaround, and he wasn't sure why everybody was making such a fuss. His agent, Marc Fleisher, said he had to apply for visas last year, too.
Fleisher, by the way, is his NBA agent, not his travel agent.
Kirilenko maintained after Friday's elimination loss that this story was overblown.
"I don't know (why)," he said, "for some reason you're trying to make it a distraction."
Neither did Sloan.
"That was a total misunderstanding on my part with him and there's not any problems with it at all," Sloan said. "I don't think you should be upset with him. You should be upset with me if you have a problem with it."
Recent comments
AK was one of the only players that showed up and hustled Friday...
Jake | May 19, 2008 at 8:25 a.m.
Good one Jazz fan. AK's trip to SFO was the reason for the Jazz...
Yeah That's Why the Jazz Lost?! | May 17, 2008 at 1:16 p.m.
AK you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are the highest paid...
Anonymous | May 17, 2008 at 12:50 p.m.
