Utah Jazz: Kirilenko is glad to get a couple of days off

Now that he's back with five games under his belt following a weeklong absence due to a sprained right hip, Andrei Kirilenko doesn't at all mind that the Jazz have two days without games between Monday's win over Toronto and Thursday's visit from the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Jazz will practice this morning, but they took Tuesday off after a stretch of five games in seven nights in five different cities and three different time zones.

"I don't care," Utah's starting small forward said of the mini-break. "I'm telling you — a couple days doesn't throw you off rhythm, especially when you practice some and you're still in shape."

Kirilenko readily admits he was thrown off, though, after missing three straight early March games because of the hip injury sustained when he crashed hard to the floor on a flagrant foul by Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki.

"You can't really shoot, can't really run, bike, lift," he said of the setback from such an injury.

Only in the last few days, Kirilenko added after Monday's victory, does he feel he's getting back into game shape.

"Probably past couple games," he said, "I feel way better, like, with my motions. Now I'm tired less."

Meanwhile, starting center Mehmet Okur left Monday's game in the first quarter due to the stomach flu and starting power forward Carlos Boozer exited in the fourth quarter with a mild muscle strain in the left side of his back.

Boozer received treatment Tuesday and is expected to practice this morning, a Jazz spokesman said. Okur is being called a "game-time decision" for Thursday night.

The Lakers continue to expect to be without big man Pau Gasol, out with a sprained ankle.

BLUNT BOWEN: Kirilenko weighed in last week with a Russian Web site, Sports.ru, on the controversial topic of San Antonio Spurs swingman Bruce Bowen getting suspended one game by the NBA for kicking New Orleans point guard Chris Paul during a recent game.

Said Kirilenko, via translation: "He (Bowen) is known for such stuff. Just have to be prepared. At any moment be careful. The League has a few players against whom you have to be very cautious. They are always on the verge of foul play. The brightest of them — Bowen and (Sacramento's) Ron Artest. I cannot say who is more blunt. I think that the two of them share the first place in this nomination. They are two of the most serious of all."

STUBBED TOE: Ex-Jazz forward Donyell Marshall has been living out of a hotel room since being traded last month from Cleveland to Seattle.