Utah Jazz: Sloan dishes out praise to Kobe, Lakers

As he spoke Tuesday, heaping praise and more praise upon Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, it seemed as if Jazz coach Jerry Sloan might have been trying to deliver a message to some of his own.

"Kobe Bryant's just a great player, and he's out there playing hard every night," said Sloan, whose Jazz face Bryant and the Lakers tonight at the EnergySolutions Arena. "That's the amazing thing about it.

"He has to be ready to play probably more than most guys do, because everybody wants to be judged by how they play against Kobe. That makes his job even tougher, (and) it tells you what kind of toughness he has to do that.

"That's where you admire guys like that — when they lay it out there every single night and don't take days off," Sloan added with reference to Bryant, who — despite being bugged by a stomach virus — scored 19 in a win Sunday over Cleveland. "You know, he plays when he's banged up, when he's sick. ... I don't think enough recognition goes to guys like that."

No wonder Sloan, whose Jazz have lost 133 man games to injury or illness this season, seems so high on the Lakers — a team that prior to playing host to Oklahoma City on Tuesday night most recently recorded road victories over not only LeBron James and the Cavaliers, but also another of the East's best, Boston.

Asked if the Lakers are the best team in the NBA this season, as their record indicates indeed is the case, the Jazz coach did not take issue.

"They're awful good," he said. "You know, they've got a tremendous team. They play together. They do a lot of things very good. They let you make mistakes, (and) they make you pay for mistakes a lot of times."

KNIGHT MISSES PRACTICE: Backup point guard Brevin Knight did not practice Tuesday due to a left quadriceps muscle contusion sustained in last Friday's game at Sacramento.

Knight, who did not play in Sunday's road loss to Golden State, is being called a "game-time decision" for tonight.

Reserve center Kyrylo Fesenko, who missed Sunday's game due to what the Jazz called a "stomach virus," did practice Tuesday.

BOOZER, KIRILENKO UPDATE: Neither Carlos Boozer (arthroscopic knee surgery) nor fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko (ankle surgery) worked out with the team Tuesday, though Boozer was rehabbing at the Jazz's practice facility.

With the NBA All-Star Game break under way after tonight for all 15 Jazz players, that means that if either is able to play next Tuesday night vs. Memphis — as each has previously said was the hope — their only post-surgery practice with the team would come Monday night.

TV TALK: Tonight's game will be aired by KJZZ-TV, meaning subscribers to DirecTV — which still hasn't agreed to pay retransmission rights fees to the non-network station — again will be shut out.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com