Utah Jazz: Favors back practicing, Howard still healing

SALT LAKE CITY — One guy's in, another guy's out.

The Utah Jazz, winners of three straight, returned to the practice floor this morning, but only 11 players were able to fully participate.

Veterans Josh Howard (strained left quad) and Jamaal Tinsley (dermatitis) sat the practice session out, but the Jazz did get second-year power forward Derrick Favors back.

All three are considered day-to-day heading into Thursday's late-night TNT showdown with the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

Howard isn't optimistic that he'll be able to avoid sitting out a third game in a row due to the sore muscle that was re-injured when he got kneed during the Nets game on Saturday night.

"Nah, I doubt it tomorrow," he said. "As much as I want to play tomorrow to help the team out, I can't say right now that I could."

The Jazz host Minnesota on Saturday before getting three full days off in between home games.

"It's a day-to-day thing," Howard added. "I can't take the chance of injuring it anymore than what I already did. (I'll) continue to do my rehab, strengthen it as much as I can until it feels better."

Favors was more hopeful about playing Thursday, although he admitted he'll "just see how I feel today" to get a better idea of his playing status.

An hour or so after spraining his ankle in Sunday's game at Denver, Favors said he would play in Tuesday's game. But he couldn't adequately pass movement tests in the morning because of pain and swelling, so he was forced to miss the Clippers' contest.

"It was tough," the 20-year-old said. "At the same time, I had to do what was best for me and the team. I didn't want to go out there and hurt them."

Tinsley played — and had a couple highlight plays — in the Jazz's 107-78 blowout win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. It's unknown whether his aggravated skin condition will sideline him vs. the Mavs.

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