"I know how it feels to be Andrei," said Harpring, who missed more than half of last season after knee surgery. "In fact, I know how it feels to be a little worse — because I was out half of last year, and he's only out for 3-to-6 weeks."

Jazz's senior president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said Kirilenko would be placed on the injured list.

A decision will be made today regarding who takes Kirilenko's active-roster spot — either rookie forward Kris Humphries or 7-foot-3 center Aleksandar Radojevic.

Another possibility: No. 3 center Curtis Borchardt (foot) goes on the injured list with Kirilenko, and Humphries and Radojevic (neither is really hurt) both are activated.

Kirilenko must sit at least five games, meaning his earliest return is Dec. 10 vs. Portland. O'Connor, though, would not speculate beyond that.

"You know he's out for five games," he said, "and it could be more."

Briggs said the injury definitely is not season-ending, like those sustained in recent seasons by Harpring and backup point guard Raul Lopez.

"It all depends how fast he heals, how fast it gets stable," he said.

Kirilenko's sprain is not third-degree, meaning a complete ligament tear. But it is second-degree, which according to the NBA Trainers Association glossary means "a partial tear." A first-degree sprain — the original diagnosis — involves "a stretching but no tearing of a ligament," according to the glossary.

The MCL connects the femur to the tibia bone, proving the knee medial stability.

"He won't miss half of the season," Briggs said. "This is not as serious as Raul's and Matt (Harpring)'s, because it doesn't require surgery.

"He's got some ligament tissue that has been damaged, and there was some bleeding," the Jazz trainer added. "Everything else — ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), meniscus (cartilage) — was good."

Kirilenko has been fitted for an adjustable knee brace, allowing him to stay off crutches.

The Jazz, meanwhile, are braced for the week to come — games tonight against the 11-2, Pacific Division-leading Suns, who have won seven straight; Wednesday at 13-2 Seattle, which leads the NBA; and Saturday at Dallas, not half-bad at 10-5.

"It's always interesting to see what happens after those things (a loss like Saturday's) happen: Will we fight back, or will we be just another group of guys in the NBA that's out there playing with no purpose?" Sloan said. "That's a huge concern every day I go to work.

"Who's going to play hard? Who's going to do the things we want to do? I don't think I'm going to turn it over to individual players and just say, 'You go do what you want to do.' We've got to work together, play together. That's what life's kind of all about."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com