Boozer sits out with ankle sprain

TORONTO — When Carlos Boozer sprained his right ankle in the opening quarter of Friday night's win over Denver, he played on.

Not so Sunday in Toronto, where Boozer sat out and backup Paul Millsap started instead.

"I just played through the game (against the Nuggets), and was hoping it would be better (Sunday)," Boozer said, "but it's still a little bit painful, so I let it calm down a little bit, and I'll get back out there, hopefully, on Tuesday (at Indiana)."

Boozer missed 44 straight earlier this season with a left quadriceps injury and a left knee that was surgically repaired, but he played in Utah's six games prior to Sunday.

He said he was hurt when he "came down in a pile, and rolled over" Friday. On Sunday, he got taped before the Jazz's win over the Raptors, walked on the ankle a bit, tried a few jumps, then elected to sit instead.

"It just wasn't strong enough to play on," he said.

Millsap responded as he did throughout much of Boozer's absence, scoring 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his 27th double-double of the season.

"Paul stepped in," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "He had a heckuva game.

"He likes starting a lot better," Sloan added. "I think anybody does. So, it's tough for him — but he's held in there like a professional should."

RUMOR MILL: On Saturday, a Web site called "The Hoop" reported that Jazz rookie center Kosta Koufos revealed to the Greek magazine Tachydromos that an offer to him from a team in Greece — Olympiakos — to play for them was for 5 million euros over three years.

On Sunday, Koufos said the offer in question came even before he went to college at Ohio State — and not last summer, when the Jazz drafted him following his one season with the Buckeyes.

The American-born, dual Greek-United States citizen and member of Greece's national program also said he never told the magazine reporter specifically how much he was offered.

Asked if the money amount in the report was correct, he had no comment.

With Boozer out Sunday, Koufos dressed but did not play (coach's decision).

MISC.: Jazz point guard Deron Williams' streak of 11 straight games with 10 or more assists came to a close. But with 25 points Sunday, a 25-point and 11-assist double-double in Friday's victory over Denver and a 26-point and 14-assist double-double against Houston on Wednesday, he's a candidate to win NBA Player of the Week honors. . . . Toronto's streak of games with at least one 3-pointer, which dates to February of 1999, was extended to 842 when the Raptors made four on Sunday. . . . KFNZ's David Locke filled in Sunday, but usual Jazz radio play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Hundley — absent for family-related reasons — is expected back to call Tuesday's game at Indiana.

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