"He is a very talented young man. He is physical. He is a hard worker ... He has got a good post-up game, but he also has a great touch," said Popovich, prior to Monday's Game 4. "So that's a great combination for somebody who is as big as he is. On top of all that, he can run the floor. He is not limited in that sense. He has got great agility, He has a knack for the game. He understands spacial relationships and what everybody else is doing on the court."

LAKER BOOZER: Bemoaning various player personnel moves his team did not make in recent years, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant — as quoted in Sunday's Orange County Register — reaffirmed the notion that there really was substance to all those trade-talk rumors involving Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer and the Lakers dating back to 2005.

"Baron Davis is a good friend of mine, Carlos Boozer is a good friend of mine, Ron Artest is someone I've known since I was a kid ... those are guys we could've gotten," Bryant told the California newspaper. "For whatever reason, it didn't happen."

EXCUSED ABSENCE: Utah guard Derek Fisher wasn't available for postgame comments Monday, having been excused by Utah Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations, Kevin O'Connor.

He was scheduled to leave immediately after the game for a previously scheduled follow-up appointment regarding his 10-month-old daughter, Lathum.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com