ALMOST LIKE HOME: When the Jazz play at Oklahoma City on Wednesday, C.J. Miles' family will be there for a small reunion. The small forward, who'd started every game this season before missing the past two with a sprained right ankle, hopes they'll watch him play and not just check out how smooth he looks in a suit.

After receiving treatment on the moderate sprain that happened when he landed on James Posey's foot against New OrleansCharlotte on Wednesday, Miles did some "good-paced jogging" during the Jazz's shootaround Monday. He isn't up to full speed and can't fully jump yet, either.

"Hopefully, I can practice (today)," he said, "and be able to go on the road trip. That's my goal."

Not only does the 21-year-old want to play in front of his visiting family, which is traveling up from Dallas, Miles is going stir-crazy on the sideline.

"I hate not playing," he said. "Especially at the beginning of my career as much as I sat and watched, that's the last thing I want to do. I hate not being able to be on the floor and help the team and compete and things like that."

This will be Miles' first trip to Oklahoma City since the Jazz played there last year. He didn't visit the Thunder there when the former Seattle franchise offered him a contract this summer — a deal that never came to pass because Utah re-signed him.

PLAYOFF POSITIONING: After sitting in the No. 9 spot for a while, the Jazz are finally back in the top eight of the Western Conference standings. At 23-15, they moved a hair ahead of now-ninth-place Dallas (22-15). That means if the playoffs began today, the Jazz would be in and the Mavericks would be out.

Jerry Sloan isn't too concerned for now. The season hasn't even reached the halfway point, and he believes things will work themselves out if the Jazz take care of their own business.

"We've got go to win games," the Jazz coach said. "You win games, you get there. You can't sit around and talk about it; you've got to go out and do it."

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Contributing: Tim Buckley

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E-mail: jody@desnews.com