Utah Jazz: Andrei Kirilenko playing like an All-Star lately

SALT LAKE CITY — Jerry Sloan now readily acknowledges, with the benefit of hindsight, that perhaps Andrei Kirilenko hasn't been used properly over the years.

But lately the Jazz's starting small forward has been playing like the NBA All-Star he once was. Playing like when he stars for his homeland on the world stage. Playing like someone living up to, if such a notion actually is possible, his $16.44 million season-long salary.

But why?

Why now, and why not previously?

Curious minds want to know just what's behind the recent resurgence of the lanky Russian, which not so coincidentally at all coincides roughly with a stretch in which the Jazz have won eight straight and 12 of their last 13 games.

"Whatever's motivating him — I'm happy about it," Carlos Boozer said.

"You don't care," fellow teammate Deron Williams added when asked how Kirilenko has managed to turn his bulb to the brightest it can be. "Just hopefully it stays on."

The man with the answers, curiously enough, is Kirilenko himself.

Though he's never been one to openly complain about coming off the bench, Kirilenko — who had a team high-tying 22 points and five blocks in Saturday's home win over Northwest Division-leader Denver — makes a compelling case that extended minutes and a return to the Jazz's starting lineup have spurred his terrific turnaround.

"One good reason for this is playing time," he said. "I'm playing, like, almost 35, 40 minutes every game."

Some of that time has come at the expense of veteran swingman Kyle Korver, who hasn't played at all in two of the Jazz's last three games, and the starting has come at C.J. Miles' expenses.

"I'm telling you — I don't have any preferences," added Kirilenko, who indeed has logged 36 minutes or more in four consecutive games and six of Utah's last eight. "But when you come in the starting lineup, you have more time."

Starting, he suggests, allows him ample time to get into a game's flow — and the sooner he does that, the better.

Being kept in games when he's hot and contributing has helped too.