NBA All-Star Game: Boozer out, Carmelo in

Injured Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer is out of the All-Star Game. Andrei Kirilenko came back at least to practice Friday. And Mehmet Okur is not only probably out of All-Star contention (as is teammate Deron Williams), but he stayed home from Friday's practice with flu-like symptoms, apparently of the gastrointestinal variety that recently sidelined coach Jerry Sloan for several days.

Boozer informed the NBA that he would not be able to play in the Feb. 18 All-Star game, for which he was named a reserve for the Western Conference. The league promptly named Dallas' Josh Howard and Denver's Carmelo Anthony to replace Boozer and injured Houston center Yao Ming.

It would have been Boozer's first All-Star Game.

Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor called the NBA office on Thursday — before Boozer made his decision — to say that if Boozer was unable to play, "We'd like to recommend our two guys (Okur, Williams)."

And Jazz owner Larry H. Miller told KSL-TV's Tom Kirkland on Thursday night that he planned to call NBA Commissioner David Stern on Friday on behalf of his two players as replacements.

But the league picked Howard and Anthony.

There is still a chance that Denver's Allen Iverson may miss the game and need to be replaced, leaving some possibility for Williams or Okur. Iverson returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing four games with an ankle sprain but said later he may have come back too soon and raised some doubt about being able to play in Las Vegas.

The Jazz still have three games before the All-Star Game, beginning tonight at 7 in EnergySolutions Arena with the New York Knicks. New York has won five straight over the Jazz, including a 97-96 victory Dec. 18 in Madison Square Garden.

Kirilenko said Friday that he planned to practice and then participate in today's shootaround before deciding whether to play tonight.

"I don't like missing games," he said, adding the back spasms that forced him into the locker room during Monday night's fourth quarter and kept him out of Wednesday and Thursday practices had subsided.

"I'm feeling pretty good," he said.

The back spasms have bothered him for several years and caused him to miss games a couple of times.

Monday, Kirilenko knew they were coming on prior to the game.

"It feels like a little weird," he said, and he tries to find ways to relieve it by wearing a support belt, as he did in Monday's game. It doesn't usually come from an odd movement. "It's not like you strain it," he said.