Jazz players enjoy Christmas with families

Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher was a little kid the last time he awoke on Christmas morning and saw snow on the ground.

Some NBA players don't like playing in cold climates, but Fisher said at Monday night's practice for tonight's 7 o'clock EnergySolutions Arena game with the warm-weather Los Angeles Clippers that seeing a white Christmas again was all right.

"It was a great morning waking up and being there with my family. It really is wonderful, to be honest, to enjoy Christmas where you experience winter and experience the bitter chill in the air," said Fisher. "It seems to bring the spirit a little bit more."

He can't recall the exact time of his childhood, but there's a memory or two there about being in Little Rock "where there was snow actually on the ground and there was a real sense of Christmas when you woke up in the morning."

NEW YEAR'S SANTA: As Andrei Kirilenko explains every Christmas-day practice, Russians celebrate their Christmas on Jan. 7, and New Year's Eve for them is the bigger of the two holidays.

For New Year's, Russians have "Tree, presents, Santa Claus, fireworks," he said.

"Usually it's me — I'm dressed like Santa Claus and, 'Come, Fedor,' that's my son. 'How you doing?'

"He wants a rocket and a train. I said you can choose only one, though. It's not Toys R Us. I can bring only one for you. But he is still choosing," Kirilenko said.

Kirilenko still hadn't gotten the needed dental work on his tooth that was chipped by an opponent's elbow last week. "Tooth all right. Part of the business, being hurt, being injured," he said. "I'm get used to it."

GIRA, MEMO OK, TOO: Gordan Giricek had an upper-back strain last week but said Monday that he's fine. "Just precaution, it wasn't hurting," he said of measures taken last week. "I was OK; I'm healthy."

He spent the holiday with his girlfriend and other friends and acknowledged getting some gifts.

Mehmet Okur said his bruised ribs were fine. "Better than a couple nights ago," he said. He got treatment on them over the weekend but said there was no way they'd have kept him from extending his consecutive-games playing streak to 208 Saturday at Memphis when his five points in the final 37 seconds helped the Jazz to a 100-97 win.

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