With C.J. Miles still not feeling 100 percent while recovering from a viral infection, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan opted to start Andrei Kirilenko and give him the first shot at slowing LeBron James in Thursday's game.
Whether the change to the starting lineup is permanent remains to be seen, though Sloan did say of Kirilenko, "He's played pretty well the last couple weeks, it seems like, and more minutes have probably been to his liking."
Miles went through shootaround but said he was still dealing with a sore throat. He has started 10 games in the past month since returning from thumb surgery, but has struggled at times and was shooting 39.8 percent this season.
"I came off the bench when I first came back, been off the bench before," Miles said. "The difference between starting and not starting, it's not a big thing to me. As long as I play hard and do what I'm supposed to do on the floor, I'm going to play." Kirilenko said there were advantages to both starting and coming off the bench. Sloan, meanwhile, talked about the difficulty in guarding James: "He handles the ball and he's about the same size as Karl Malone and you're asking smaller guys to play him." Inside information Deron Williams spent two summers as James' teammate with USA Basketball and could do so again at this summer's world championships and possibly the 2012 Olympics. He was asked Thursday what James was like behind the scenes. "Between him and Dwight Howard , those guys kept everything light, everything fun," Williams said. "You always know with those guys you're going to have fun, there's going to be jokes. "We knew it was serious and we had a goal in mind, but we wanted to have fun at the same time. His leadership was great. Even though he was one of the younger guys on the team, his leadership was always there." 20-day plan The Jazz are expected today to sign Sundiata Gaines to a second 10-day contract. Once that expires, they will face a decision about signing Gaines for the remainder of the season -- an option they will consider -- or releasing him. "I really don't get my hopes up," Gaines said. "I try to take things day by day. The good thing about the 10-day is it keeps you hungry. You want more. I really don't focus on that, I just focus on basketball and I let everything else take its course." Gaines has played in four games since he was called up from Idaho of the NBA Development League. He backed up Williams at point guard Monday, but Ronnie Price (left shoulder tendinitis) was available Thursday. Briefly Kirilenko was asked if he'd pay money to watch James and said he would opt for soccer instead. "It's too much basketball in my life," Kirilenko said. "I've watched for 15 years, too many games, too many matchups, so I'd rather watch something else."
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