Utah Jazz: Millsap to have MRI on injured left knee

How does that Christmas song go? Oh yes, 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, nine players practicing ...

The morning after ending the annual pre-Christmas road trip with a bah-humbugish 94-86 loss at Milwaukee, the Utah Jazz only had nine healthy bodies available for practice on Wednesday.

Though several walking wounded were at the training facility for treatment and light workouts, Paul Millsap, Deron Williams, Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer and Jarron Collins did not participate in the Christmas Eve practice session for various reasons.

That left Jerry Sloan with as many available healthy bodies as Santa had reindeer — including Rudolph, of course — for his late-night whirlwind worldwide tour on Wednesday night. The Jazz coach admitted at his Christmas Eve practice that he's concerned about his team's unstable health that has led to Utah players missing 90 player-games so far this season.

"I'm worried about injuries," Sloan said. "I probably should forget about it because when it rains it pours, but you've got to play through that."

The latest injury happened to one of his favorite, hard-working elves aka Millsap — the power forward who has endeared himself to Sloan because he's never missed a game in his NBA career (194 straight) and because he often plays through plenty of pain. Millsap did that again Tuesday after hyperextending his left knee and leaving in agony while scaring the dickens out of the Jazz in the first quarter.

"We need him," C.J. Miles said. "It was scary."

"I was nervous," Williams added.

Millsap did not practice Wednesday and was scheduled to undergo an MRI on his knee, which he said popped in Tuesday's game. After X-rays at the arena came out negative, Millsap returned to play the entire second half and nearly extended his 15-game double-double streak, which came to an end with a gutsy 11-point, nine-rebound outing.

Because of the Christmas holiday, the Jazz aren't expecting his results to be available until Friday morning. In the meantime, Millsap is being listed as "questionable" for that night's game against the Dallas Mavericks, according to a team spokesperson.

As for Williams, the point guard who missed 13 games with a severely sprained left ankle said his strained right calf muscle is "feeling all right" on Wednesday. He talked to reporters while riding a stationary bicycle, but he did not practice and is "probable" for Friday.

"We've got three days to rest and hope to heal a little bit," Williams said. "That's all I can hope for."