<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In an ideal world, three major components of the new-look opening lineup the Jazz have used for their last three games would have been together since the start of last season. That, however, is far from the case. Mehmet Okur has done his part, not missing a game since he joined the Jazz as a free agent from Detroit in 2004. But Andrei Kirilenko missed half of last season with knee, ankle and wrist injuries, and Carlos Boozer sat out last season's final 31 games with a foot injury and this season's first 49 with a hamstring strain. So much for continuity. As it stands, the three primary front-line pieces of Utah's future ? Okur and Boozer were the Jazz's two big-splash signings in the 2004 summer free-agency market; Kirilenko is the team's only current player to have appeared in an All-Star Game ? have started all of five games together. Two came in 2004-05, and there have now been three in 2005-06. No wonder every recent outing is an adventure for Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who ? hopes for making the playoffs, and a loss in Miami last Tuesday that opened with the Heat taking the first quarter 41-14, weighing on his mind ? decided to shorten his bench and go chiefly with his stars. After an overtime loss Wednesday at Orlando, a win Friday in Atlanta and a fourth-quarter collapse in Sunday's loss at Memphis, the Jazz come home for a four-game homestand that begins with tonight's TNT-televised meeting with Pacific Division-leading Phoenix. They do so looking radically different than when they left last week.</div> <div align="center">Source</div>
