Utah Jazz: Okur to play, start tonight

After going through a pregame shooting session early this evening, Jazz center Mehmet Okur decided he's prepared to play in tonight's Game 4 of Utah's first-round NBA playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Okur missed the first three games of the series — and the Jazz's final game of the regular season — with a strained right hamstring.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said after today's morning shootaround that if Okur indeed was ready for the ESPN-televised game at EnergySolutions Arena, the big Turk's minutes likely would be limited.

"Just see how he plays," Sloan said. "That doesn't mean we're going to play him 40 minutes, probably, to start with — because he hasn't played much all this time.

"It's still a shaky situation, as far as I'm concerned."

Okur, a one-time NBA All-Star and strong-shooting big man, suggested he understood the playing-time issue.

"It's been a while — almost a couple weeks," he said. "I wouldn't mind (limited minutes). I just want to go out there and help my teammates and do my best.

"I want to give whatever I have."

Okur plans to start, which means veteran big man Jarron Collins would return to the bench.

Okur's absence has adversely impacted the Jazz throughout the best-of-seven series, which the Lakers lead 2-1.

"There's not many centers in this league that can stretch the defense like he can and hit the shots he does," point guard Deron Williams said this morning. "You know, we just miss him out there. (His playing) allows other guys to operate a little more freely. It spreads the floor, which is key for our offense."

"He can make shots out on the perimeter. People, they've got to send a guy to him," Sloan added today. "They (the Lakers) have got two guys laying in the paint, and they can stand there all day (without Okur on the court) sometimes. It makes it a little easier for us to space the floor out and get maybe a little better opportunity to play inside when he's out there, because they'll run somebody at him. They won't leave him open."

Meanwhile, Sloan said today that Andrei Kirilenko will make a second straight series start at small forward.

Kirilenko replaced Kyle Korver in the opening lineup for Utah's Game 3 win Thursday.

E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com