Utah Jazz: Team nearly loses more than game

MILWAUKEE — At the tail end of an admittedly disappointing five-game road trip, the suddenly cold Jazz dropped a game here.

But — inside the half-empty Bradley Center, and amid a whiteout outside — they could have lost much, much more.

Already playing without still injured All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer and starting center Mehmet Okur on Tuesday night, Utah closed a 10-night Eastern road swing by falling 94-86 at snowy Milwaukee — and very nearly was hit with an injury that could perhaps have led to its season melting away.

Instead, after exiting late in the first quarter with what appeared to be a gruesome knee injury, power forward replacement-starter Paul Millsap returned to play the entire second half.

His gritty effort and that of a limited few others with the now 17-13 Jazz, including point guard Deron Williams and sixth man Andrei Kirilenko, weren't enough to overcome Milwaukee's 19-point lead from early in the third quarter.

But his personal comeback was — pending further evaluation today — a gift Utah gladly will keep.

"It made me nervous," Williams said of Millsap's mishap. "Real nervous."

Millsap — whose streak of 15 straight double-doubles came to a close with an 11-point, nine-rebound night — collided with game-high 27-point scorer Michael Redd of the Bucks.

"After he fell on it," said Millsap, who described his knee as having "hyperextended," "I felt a pop and felt like it was over. I felt like, 'Why me? Why did it happen to me?"'

Yet Millsap — who will be a restricted free agent this offseason, and seems bound, barring major injury, to be in line for making many millions of dollars — somehow managed to return.

X-rays were negative, and he was able withstand putting pressure on the knee, so — after earlier leaving the court with help of two teammates and going to the locker room in a wheelchair — he was back on the Jazz bench with two minutes and 16 seconds left in the first half.

Utah was down 42-36 at the time, and Millsap — because coach Jerry Sloan didn't want to play him until he had a chance to warm up — watched as Milwaukee (14-16) built a 50-38 heading into halftime.

But, to the surprise of many, he was back after the break.