C.J. Miles gives Utah Jazz a scare, but downplays ankle roll

SALT LAKE CITY — He sat out the first 17 games of last season due to a ruptured shooting-hand thumb ligament that required surgery.

But Jazz swingman C.J. Miles isn't about to miss the start of the 2010-11 NBA season — not even after an ankle roll left him heaped on the EnergySolutions Arena floor in Friday night's preseason-ending win over the Sacramento Kings.

"I'm all right," Miles, in his sixth season out of Skyline High School in Dallas, said after receiving postgame treatment on his sprained right ankle. "I'm a Texas boy, man. It'll take a little bit more than this to get me."

Miles — who started all of his 72 games in 2008-09, but is penciled to come off the bench as the Jazz's sixth man this season — went down midway through Friday's second quarter.

He stole an errant Hassan Whiteside pass on one end, then raced coast-to-coast and rose to the basket on the other.

His shot didn't fall, but Miles did.

"I intentionally tried to step around, so I wouldn't step on any foot, so I wouldn't roll my ankle," he said. "And when I tried to jump off it from the twisted ankle that I had my foot in, it just keeled over and all my weight was on my leg.

"So when it rolled, it kind of felt like somebody shot me out of the stands. It hurt, way worse. When I first did it, I thought I'd really done something to it.

"As it started to calm down, it was basically yelling at me, like, 'Stop, get off your ankle,' at first," added Miles, who started all 10 Jazz playoff games last postseason. "Then it got a little bit better."

Miles stayed on the floor for a couple minutes, causing decided consternation for those on the Jazz bench counting on his point production with Utah's second unit this season.

Even after scoring just two points with 1-for-6 field shooting vs. the Kings, Miles was the Jazz third-leading scorer in the preseason with an 11.9 average over eight exhibition games.

The 23-year-old went to the Jazz training room, had the ankle re-taped and returned to the bench for the final two minutes of Friday's first half.

At halftime, however, the ankle swelled a bit, and Miles decided enough was enough.

"Having to sit down, because I don't start, (I knew) it was probably gonna stiffen up," he said. "So I was kind of like, 'It's just preseason; let it rest.' But if (Friday) was Wednesday (when Utah opens the season at Denver) I would have played. It wasn't enough for me not to play."

The Jazz won't practice this morning, but Miles plans to test the ankle anyway.

"I'll get treatment (today), probably shoot a little (today), see how sore it is," he said. "Depending on that ... I'm pretty sure I'll practice (Sunday). I know they'll tell me not to, but I'm still gonna do it."

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com