Borchardt posts a double-double in Jazz win

One member of the Jazz's Rocky Mountain Revue summer-league team sat out Saturday, nursing an injury. Another, a first-round draft choice, exited early, also due to injury.

Neither was named Curtis Borchardt.

For the Jazz, and especially for Borchardt, that may have been the best news of the night.

A first-round selection out of Stanford University in 2002, Borchardt's first two NBA seasons have been an injury-besieged nightmare.

A stress fracture in his already surgically repaired foot struck before and during the '02 Revue, and he missed his entire rookie season. At training camp before the start of last season, he was sidetracked by a fluke fractured finger. Then disaster struck in December, when he essentially shattered his wrist after making a move to the basket and landing quite awkwardly.

On Friday at Salt Lake Community College, Borchardt played his first game since the December setback. Afterward Jazz assistant coach Gordie Chiesa called the 7-foot center "rusty," and Borchardt found it hard to disagree.

"(Friday) night," he said, "I had so much adrenaline going in the game that the basketball felt like it was a pea — especially at the (free-throw) line. . . . I felt like I was almost tripping over myself on the offensive end."

Not so Saturday, not even on a night the gym at SLCC went dark until play in the Jazz game resumed about 20 minutes later.

Playing mostly out of the power forward spot, Borchardt had 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. That along with usual backup point guard Raul Lopez's 14 points lifted the Jazz's summer club to a 60-52 win over Indiana, making Utah 1-1 two games into the 11-team, seven-game Revue for NBA rookies, youngsters and free agents.

"Tonight," Borchardt said afterward, "I was a little more comfortable, and just able to get into a little bit of a rhythm."

Slowly but surely, the 23-year-old is gaining his confidence back.

"Curtis has shown tremendous progress throughout the summer camp," said newly hired assistant coach Tyrone Corbin, the former Jazz small forward. "The thing he's realizing now is he's stronger. His base is stronger, and he feels good about his body."

Especially when it isn't breaking down.

Not everyone with the Jazz, however, was so fortunate.