Utah Jazz: Okur's Achilles acts up, forcing him out of game

DENVER — Jazz center Mehmet Okur reinjured his left Achilles tendon Saturday night, with just more than eight minutes to go in the second quarter of Game 1 of Utah's first-round NBA playoff series with the Denver Nuggets.

Okur didn't return for the second half, and according to the team he will undergo an MRI exam today — leaving his status for Monday's Game 2 and the rest of the postseason very much in question.

"I was driving to the basket and I slipped," Okur said, "and I felt pain, because all my weight was on the left side, because I was driving right.

"Then I felt something pop."

The Jazz's starting center has been bothered by tendinitis in the Achilles for about two weeks.

He didn't play in an April 9 game at New Orleans due to the injury and left an April 7 game at Houston early because of it.

Okur said Saturday morning the Achilles still was "sore," and he received a pain-killing injection before the game.

Okur was hurt driving to the basket, past Chris Andersen and toward Denver big man Nene, but no contact was made on the play.

His left foot appeared to buckle, and Okur — called for a travel — immediately crumpled to the floor.

"We need him out there," Williams said, "but, you know, what can you do about injuries? We've got to keep playing."

Jazz starting power forward Carlos Boozer, meanwhile, played Saturday — but with a patch.

Boozer strained his right-side oblique (stomach) muscle in last Tuesday night's win at Golden State, causing him to miss Wednesday night's regular season-ending loss to Phoenix.

"I wasn't able to (play Wednesday)," Boozer said. "I'd have hurt my team more than I would have helped my team."

But Boozer, the Jazz's leading scorer and rebounder, said Saturday morning that he felt "good."

Boozer played with what he called "padding" — actually a heat-producing patch — over the injured area.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan suggested Saturday morning that he planned to keep a close eye on both Boozer and Okur throughout the series.