I'm not superstitious, but if I played for the Jazz, I'd avoid breaking mirrors. I wouldn't walk under any ladders, either.

And I definitely would stay away from sidewalk cracks.

The Jazz need all the luck they can get.

It was no big surprise when word came from across the Atlantic, this week, that starting forward C.J. Miles is out with an injured thumb. That's one more guy with a note from his doctor. Miles joined Kyle Korver (knee), rookie Paul Harris (ankle) and Kyrylo Fesenko (heel) among those who didn't play in Tuesday's game in London against Chicago. Earlier this year, Andrei Kirilenko missed practice with a strained quadriceps. In the Oct. 1 exhibition game, Matt Harpring — out indefinitely (ankle, knee) — and Korver didn't play due to injuries.

That doesn't bode well, in my mind.

The worst part is that injuries get them thinking. During last season, the Jazz kept saying they weren't going to make excuses. Then when the season was over, well, they made excuses. But at least they were good ones. They missed 156 player-games due to injury, illness and personal leave.

Used to be that I didn't have to keep track of things like injuries. I could worry about stuff like Karl Malone's body fat and whether John Stockton was starting to look like a geek in those short-shorts. In 1999-2000, there were only 11 player-games lost. The previous year, just 17. In 1991-92, they lost 16 games; in 1983-84,12.

Then there was last year, when the Jazz changed everyone's perspective. Fans realized their players weren't indestructible or interchangeable. Coach Jerry Sloan tried 20 different lineups.

Even their owner, who himself seemed indestructible, died.

This summer, Sloan had knee replacement surgery that aggravated the bejeebies out of him.

In past years, Sloan would talk about avoiding certain injuries by coming into camp in great shape. That still holds true. But you wonder. This year, he said the team seemed in good condition, and what happened?

Players started dropping like Prussians at Jena, that's what.

In the interest of full disclosure, last year wasn't the worst in sheer numbers. From 2002-06 they averaged 244 absences a season. A lot of those were on account of Carlos Boozer, who missed 88 games in that span.

At the same time, there was never more damage to key players than last year. Boozer (45), Kirilenko (15), Harpring (14), Deron Williams (14), Miles (10), Mehmet Okur (10) and Paul Millsap (6) each sat out.

What to do? Some ancient civilizations sacrificed virgins to avert bad fortune, but virgins are hard to find in the NBA. Where's A.C. Green when you need him?

For their part, the Jazz mostly just hope for the best.