No head-butt in Kirilenko's offensive arsenal

BOISE — Andrei Kirilenko spent part of his summer in Germany, where he watched soccer's World Cup championship game between Italy and France.

But fear not, Zinedine Zidane fans.

The Jazz's forward from Russia maintains he did not pick up any bad habits watching Zidane head-butt Italy's Marco Materazzi, an incident that soiled the French star's otherwise illustrious international career.

"You couldn't let anybody take you out of the games, especially just with words," Kirilenko said.

Make no mistake, Kirilenko has heard plenty of insults akin to the one Materazzi used to provoke Zindane. He just doesn't let them get to him.

"On the basketball court, I hear so much trash-talking during the game," he said. "I don't pay attention. ... If I start reacting to every one, I will not play. I will sit suspended every time."

Even if a future opponent should cross way over the line, Kirilenko — considered one of the NBA's most-sportsmanlike players — vows he'd never do anything as knuckleheaded as head-butting an adversary during a game.

No, no.

That's what parking lots are for.

"I think if you want to fight or you want to conflict with anybody, you can do it off the court," he said. "Don't do it on the court — you just let your team down, you let yourself down, and it doesn't look good."

Watching world-class soccer, incidentally, wasn't the only way Kirilenko passed his offseason.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kirilenko and his Russian hockey buddy — the Atlanta Thrashers' Ilya Kovalchuk — rented a 50-foot yacht for a week in "the south of France and St-Tropez, (a) summer stopping point for celebrities and the jet set."

Also supposedly in town at the same time: Paris Hilton and R&B star Usher.