Jazz eager for return of Andrei

LOS ANGELES — The Jazz played one more game Monday night.

One more, that is, without All-Star forward Andrei Kirilenko, who has missed the past 26 with a partial tear in his right knee's medial collateral ligament.

In that span, the Jazz have gone 6-20.

With Monday's passing, though, that is a running total they hope to count no more.

Kirilenko worked out hard prior to Utah's 102-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center, and with a four-day break in the Jazz's schedule — they do not play again until Saturday night vs. Memphis at the Delta Center — it could very well be his last absence as a result of the injury.

Just in the nick of time for a rather testy team, too.

"If Andrei is able to play by the time we get back," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Monday night, "hopefully that will help us, and pick our spirits up a little bit."

Kirilenko will practice with the team Thursday and Friday following days off today and Wednesday. If all goes well he will be given a green light by Sloan for Saturday night.

But there is a but. . . .

"If there's any doubts after that," Sloan said, "then we'll push him on back farther."

Jazz center Jarron Collins, meanwhile, also worked out with Kirilenko and the rest of the Jazz before Monday's game.

Like Kirilenko, though, Collins remains on the injured list with a medial collateral ligament sprain.

Rather than return to Utah with the team Monday night, Collins said he planned to stay in Los Angeles so he could be seen today by his orthopedic specialist here.

Sloan said Monday he and basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor have not discussed bringing someone in on a 10-day contract this week - because doing so would mean having to put someone else on the injured list, along with having to make space on the already full 12-man active roster whenever Kirilenko and Collins come back.

SILVER LINING: If there is a silver lining to Kirilenko's extended stay away, Sloan may have found it.

"One good thing about it: Some of our younger players have got a chance to play in his absence," the Jazz coach said with regard to rookies Kirk Snyder and Kris Humphries, who both were averaging slightly more than 10 minutes per game prior to Monday. "They probably wouldn't have gotten as much (time), and hopefully that will help them down the line to become better players."