Boozer, Okur out against Lakers

Published: Friday, Nov. 30 2007 7:43 p.m. MST

Neither starting power forward Carlos Boozer nor starting center Mehmet Okur will play in the Jazz's sold-out ESPN-televised game tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boozer, the NBA's No. 3 scorer, sprained his right ankle late in the first half of Utah's win Wednesday night at Philadelphia, but returned to score 14 of his game-high 26 points in the second half.

Okur left the same game at Philadelphia in the third quarter due to back spasms. He returned to the Jazz bench in the fourth quarter, and said Friday that he could have played again if needed — but he was not.

The two NBA All-Star Game selections from last season skipped Friday's morning shootaround, and both said afterward they'd see he how they felt before tonight's game before deciding whether or not they played.

With those two on the inactive list, the Jazz on Friday recalled second-round rookie center Kyrylo Fesenko from the D-League's Utah Flash and plan to dress the big Ukrainian for his regular-season NBA game.

The Jazz plan to Jarron Collins at center in place of Okur and Paul Millsap at power forward in place of Boozer. It will be the first start of the season for both.


E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com

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