Utah Jazz still missing Boozer's production

Two-time All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer won't play when the Jazz face Portland at home tonight, a team spokesman said after the club returned to Utah from Minnesota early Wednesday morning.

It will be the 12th straight game missed by Boozer, who strained the quadriceps tendon over his left knee in a Nov. 19 game against Milwaukee.

With Boozer out, backup and replacement starter Paul Millsap has nine straight point-rebound double-doubles.

But the Jazz are just 6-5 in Boozer's absence, even after Tuesday night's 99-96 win at Minnesota.

That in mind, his return — whenever it comes — is something teammates believe will give the 14-9 club a much-needed boost.

"Think about 21 and 11-plus, and what we're doing right now," center Mehmet Okur said with reference to Boozer's scoring and rebounding averages (actually 20.5 points and 11.7 boards per game) in 12 games before getting injured this season.

"Hopefully," Okur added, "he's going to come back healthier and help what we're doing out there."

Boozer earlier this week had said he hoped to return either tonight, when the Jazz's late-starting game against the Trail Blazers will be nationally televised by TNT, or Saturday night, when the Jazz host Orlando.

HMMM: The Jazz have used seven different starting lineups this season — but they have yet to use their originally planned opening roster of Deron Williams at point guard, shooting guard Ronnie Brewer, small forward C.J. Miles, Boozer and Okur.

Of the five that have been used more than once, the most successful is the one they used for the first the six games of the season and for one other game.

That would be with Ronnie Price — who on Tuesday, for the first time this season, wasn't even used — playing the point in place of then-injured Williams, joined by four regulars.

That combination went 6-1, an .857 winning percentage.

Second-best is the one they've used for the last eight games, with Williams back at the point but Millsap in Boozer's place at power forward.

That group of five is 5-3 together, or .625.

IN THE NEWS: Jerry Sloan's 20th anniversary as coach of the Jazz on Tuesday, incidentally, received scant attention in Minnesota, where Kevin McHale's first game as coach in place of the fired Randy Wittman was primary focus of newspaper coverage.

It was mentioned in two sentences — both on an inside page — in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

It also was built into a Minneapolis Star Tribune column by Jim Souhan, who offered this classic paragraph: "Sloan is the longest-tenured coach in pro sports. During his tenure, other NBA teams have made 223 coaching changes. Only half of those involved the Wolves."

ESPN.com gave the anniversary prominent play, but USA Today didn't bother acknowledging it in Wednesday's print edition.

TV TALK: Tonight's TNT-televised game marks the second of 10 scheduled appearances on a major national cable TV network for the Jazz.

Utah won its first, beating Toronto on ESPN last Friday night.

---

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com