Utah Jazz notebook: Korver and Price back in uniform following injuries

SALT LAKE CITY — Coach Jerry Sloan used only eight players — his starters, and subs Paul Millsap, C.J. Miles and Eric Maynor.

But the Jazz — for the first time this season — had a full active roster of 12 healthy players when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.

Backup shooting guard Kyle Korver dressed for the first time this season, and reserve combo guard Ronnie Price for the first time in more than a month.

Even though, like Price, he didn't play, Korver was happy to simply be ready.

"It was good to just put on a uniform and not have to wear a sportcoat to the game," he said.

"I haven't practiced yet. It's not 100 percent," Korver added. "But it's at a point where I think I can help out the team a little bit, so if (Sloan) can find spots for me to do that I'll do whatever I can do."

Korver has been out since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 23 to address a bone spur, and Price was active for the first time since injuring his left toe and foot during a Nov. 9 win at New York.

"It feels like it's been the whole year," Price said. "I didn't think it would be this long, and didn't know the injury would be that bad. I've heard it could be worse, so I'm just happy to be back in uniform.

"I don't know if I'll be pain-free," he added. "There's a lot going on in the foot. It's not just a sprain. It's just one of those things I think I'll have to play with until it fully heals."

Price detailed his troubles Saturday, saying, "I had bone spurs on my joint, I had ligament problems in that same area and there's a bone underneath my foot they knew was damaged. ... And they didn't know which one was causing the pain. I just knew every time I took a step it felt like I was being stabbed by a knife."

Jazz backup center Kyrylo Fesenko dressed but didn't play after missing two games with a stomach virus.

KIRILENKO UPDATE: Not dressing Saturday was backup small forward Andre Kirilenko, who said Saturday he received a cortisone shot in his strained lower back Friday.

He's missed five straight games and six of Utah's last seven due to muscle tightness in his inflamed back, but expects to return Monday vs. Minnesota.

"I'm starting to feel better, but it takes, like, 24-to-48 hours," he said.

Kirilenko suggested he may have come back prematurely by playing in a Dec. 4 win over Indiana in which he was limited to two points, two rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes.

He said a subsequent MRI exam, though, was "perfect. ... nothing major, just inflammation."

"I probably should have waited a couple more days to be sure," Kirilenko said. "But ... it is what it is."

C.J.'S SHOES: None are autographed.

But Miles was bragging Saturday nonetheless on his Nike Air Jordan sneaker collection.

"I don't even know how to describe it.

"Massive?" he said. "It's one of my great accomplishments, I guess. I've been a bunch of places, and able to find as many as I can."

Miles has acquired one of almost every version ever made.

"I have some of the originals," he said, "but every one of the remakes I've been able to get my hands on. ... Some of them I wear, some I don't.

"It cost too much to get Jordans like that when I was growing up. My parents wouldn't buy me Air Jordans," the 22-year-old added. "I didn't start really getting into them until late in high school, when I had a little bit of money, and then after I got drafted."

THEY'RE IN: Kirilenko's Russian national team received a wild card bid Saturday to next summer's FIBA World Championships in Turkey, rounding out a 24-team field along with fellow wild cards Germany, Lebanon and Lithuania.

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com