Kirilenko back; Giricek out

The Russian returned, but the Croatian took a seat.

Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko was back in Utah's lineup Tuesday after missing seven games with a sprained ankle, but usual starting shooting guard Gordan Giricek sat out with a strained calf muscle.

Giricek, wearing a walking boot on his left foot and lower leg since sustaining the injury during practice Sunday, is listed as "day to day."

With Giricek out against Indiana, Devin Brown got his second start of the season at the 2.

Kirilenko did not reassume his usual starting small forward position, however, as Jazz coach Jerry Sloan instead stayed with Matt Harpring.

With Deron Williams at point (Keith McLeod remains out at least another week with an avulsion fracture in his lower back), Mehmet Okur at power forward and Greg Ostertag at center, that's the seventh different starting lineup the Jazz have used in the past nine games.

Only Okur and Ostertag have started all 15 Jazz games this season.

SARUNAS CROWE: Much has been made recently of Pacers guard Sarunas Jasikevicius spurning an offer from Cleveland to sign with Indiana last summer, but what few may realize is that the Jazz feel they finished second to the Pacers in the chase for the longtime Euroleague star.

Utah offered a contract believed to be more lucrative than the one Jasikevicius signed, but the University of Maryland product from Lithuania ultimately decided Indiana is more of a contender than the Jazz.

In Indianapolis, Pacer fans evidently have fallen in love with the hard-playing combo guard, who seems like a quintessential Sloan-type player.

"He's almost like Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator' when the guy goes up to him and says, 'Win the crowd,' " TNT's Reggie Miller, the ex-Pacers star, recently said on the air.

"He is a fiery, emotional, fist-pumping player who dives for loose balls," Miller added. "When you win the crowd, you win the backing of this city, and he has won the crowd."

Jasikevicius, who had eight points in Indiana's 84-60 win Tuesday, also sounds like one who speaks his mind.

"In general we have a competitive team and it shows," he told the Indianapolis Star. "A lot of times it shows, man. But sometimes . . . let's face (it), we just don't bring it as a team.

"We just have to be a little more professional, no question about it. We have the talent; the maturity level is just not there every single night."