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Utah Jazz: Kirilenko shines in rare start vs. Pacers

Kirilenko shines? He went 3-15 from the field! I can shine if I touched the ball that much.

And sure he got 12 boards but who else is there to get them besides Memo? He is the most physically(and emotionally) fragile player in the NBA. If he gets touched he falls down, if he touches someone else, he falls down.

I used to like AK before he became a pre-madonna that needed more "touches". There is no way he should get more touches. He shouldn't even be getting as much as he does. He has a role with the Jazz and he should just fulfill it.

Amen

He looked terrible shooting the ball - could not have been worse.

While I Agree that AK's acting on the court is sometimes irritating, I still do not blame him for his melt-down, a few years ago. D-Will had completely shut him out of the offense and there was nothing AK could do about it.

You must not have watched the game. Kirilenko had 3 steals and 3 blocks. He altered numerous shots, and many of his 12 rebounds were offensive or at crucial times in the game when he had to tip toe the base line and save the ball. His hustle is what makes him shine, not his shooting.

How can you fault AK now he has did every thing ask of him. And he is a team guy. He does so many things like aultering shots and deflections and other little things .The Jazz would not be in the playoffs for sure with out him. He was the mvp of last night game.

What is a pre-madonna? Someone who is about to become Madonna? Prima Donna (Italian for first lady) is what you should have used. But with that you looked pretty uneducated and all your credibility went out the door.

Ok maybe the headline should have been "AK shines despite poor shooting". You guys are way too tough on him. If the guy grabbed 12 boards that is great. Dont denigrate the guy for grabbing 12 boards ("who else is going to grab them?"). He almost logged a 5x5.. Not many players in the NBA can do that. He is one of the best Jazz players and is in the running for sixth man of the year! GO AK!

I have excellent credit. It beats your self-important gutter wit anyday. AK's the MAN!!!! Dis him all you want. In my opinion still the best all around player in the league.

anyone who still rags on AK for something that happened 2 years ago (_is this you trib writer monson?)is an idiot who has not watched the JAZZ since. AK has some bad shooting nights sure -so have BOOZER and even D-will -BUT what makes them ALL valuable is they still (with the possible exfception of BOOZER)wind up
hustling to make up for a bad shooting night and helping their team WIN!
good job AK! don't let laker fans and fools who can not even jump high enough to touch the bottom of the net or block my grandma on their best day get to you!

Ross,
It called Prima Donna
You should probably know how to spell it before you use it.

AK is not a prima donna he always putting his body in harms way.

AK had 5 offensive rebounds, blocked 3 shots and had 3 steal. That is 11 more positions the Jazz got. And 2 of the offensive rebounds were in the 4th quarter and ended in dunks.

AK did need more touches. Did you see how awful the Jazz played in the third quarter when AK was out. We were up by 18 points when AK came out of the lineup and when he came back in the game we were up 6 points.

You guys are putting too much on shooting the ball. Indian have 3 forwards who can shoot the ball (Dunleavly, Murphy and Foster). Look at their record. That is why shooting is the most overrated skill in the NBA.

As far as his shooting, he admits he had a bad shooting night. Indiana back off him by 7 feet so he couldn't drive on them, which is what he wants to do, and he had to take the shots.

Kirilenko is a good basketball player and a defensive monster. The jazz are luck to have him.

He was every where, and if you understand basketball, they guy played every position you ask him, and I think Jerry appreciate that so much.

If we don't have AK playing for us now with all of these injuries we will be out of the playoff picture.

From my point of view, whomever plays the PF position is guaranteed double digit rebounds every game. Boozer, Millsap and AK do it easily every game. I bet if Koufus started as PF he would grab 10+. It's the system, not the player. We don't need to sign Boozer or Millsap to a Max contract. Just find someone to plug into the system and spend the real money on a shooting guard.

Luck to have him.

Hey, if it's not falling from the outside, take it to the hole man. The jazz started slow on d, thanks to memo, he doesn't get going until later in the game at times, sometimes it's too late. however, the jazz won, thanks to the inside work of ak, and the quarterbacking of dwill.
As far as I'm concerned as a fan, I don't mind if the jazz cut loose defensive slackers, memo contributed offensively, but the vortex he leaves on defense disturbs me.

I agree, AK is the man. He works his tail-off, and actually cares about helping the team. I think that he cares about the game, he cares about good ol fashioned basketball. In my opinion, this sport has been taken over by kids that just play for the money, with the mentality of being the best ME on the team.

Guess we don't need Boozer at all. He's just a product of Jerry Sloan's system. LOL

I have watched AK since he started with the Jazz, he is actually coming back to playing at his allstar caliber and he is truly the only Jazz man that can play all 5 positions, don't forget he is young but maturing emotionally as well. AK deserves all the yahoos we can give him, he earns them. He helps the team even when not scoring so go AK and beat it naysayers.

@ Rebounds

I can see how you would come to that conclusion, but I have to dissagree with you, you couldn't just plug anyone into the system and succeed.

The reason whoever the Jazz seem to play at the PF position seems to succeed is because the Jazz have 3 top notch players to play that position. AK and Boozer have proven they are All-Star calliber players with other teams and Millsap clearly has the skills to succeed anywere.

I think it is interesting that the Jazz have a team that is made up of 5 guys who are natural PF (Boozer, Millsap, AK, Kosta, Collins)and 5 guys who are natural SG (Brewer, Miles, Korver, Price, Almond).

The other thing I think is interesting, and awesome, is that the Jazz have 6-7 players (when healthy) that could put up 25-30 pts on any given night if given the opportunity.

If the Jazz can get Boozer back and start playing the kind of offense they played last year and maintain the D they are playing this year then they are a championship calliber squad.