Utah Jazz: Team uses makeshift lineup to win

Andrei Kirilenko was absent, tending to a private family matter in Russia. Kyle Korver sat behind the bench, his left knee too inflamed to play. And Matt Harpring remains out of sight, chronic ankle and knee injuries likely having ended his NBA career.

The reminder of just how shorthanded the Jazz are at the wing started from the get-go of a 99-96 preseason win over Portland on Thursday night at EnergySolutions Arena, where usual reserve combo guard Ronnie Price started at shooting guard and usual starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer at small forward.

But it really hit home with about 40 seconds remaining in the exhibition, when incumbent starting small forward C.J. Miles arrived from New York — a black hard cast covering his left hand and wrist, the result of surgery performed there last week to repair the shooting-hand thumb ligament he ruptured during an Oct. 5 practice in London.

Miles, admittedly rather despondent after sustaining the injury, said he'll wear the cast for another three-and-a-half to four weeks, then expects he'll need another week or two or more of rehab until playing again.

That fits into the six-to-eight weeks timetable typical for such an injury, and means he's likely to miss at least the first dozen or so games of the regular season.

"Hopefully I can do it sooner," said 22-year-old Miles, who had the same injury on his right thumb in high school — but didn't need surgery then because it wasn't his shooting hand.

"(But) I don't want to jump back in it and say, 'Well, I can play with a little pain, so why not keep going?' — and the next thing you know I've got to have the surgery again, and I miss the season."

Meanwhile, then, the Jazz trudge on, doing what they can to get by with a shorthanded crew of 2s and 3s.

One effort in the regard was starting Price in the backcourt with point guard Deron Williams, a backcourt pair that — sparked by Price's fastbreak dunk, his block of a Martell Webster shot and his nifty reverse layup scored after driving past point Andre Miller and around big man Greg Oden — helped Utah go up by as many as 14 points in the opening quarter.

"I think we play well together," Price said.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was noncommittal when asked if the Williams-Price-Brewer trio is likely to be seen in the regular season.

"We'll see what happens," Sloan said. "He (Price) will get an opportunity to play, I'm sure."