Injuries lead to 20th different starting lineup News Utah Jazz

LOS ANGELES ? Neither center Mehmet Okur nor small forward C.J. Miles played when the Jazz faced the Los Angeles Lakers in a late-starting, TNT-televised game Tuesday night. Miles didn't play for a second straight game, and for the fifth time in the Jazz's last six, because the dislocated index finger on his left, shooting hand remains swollen. But he wants to be ready when Utah opens postseason play this weekend.

"That's what I'm hoping," Miles said. "The swelling hasn't gone down, so it's starting to . . . make my hand hurt. The outside and inside of my palm is getting real sore, catching the ball or when I grab. "Trying to shoot, I don't have much strength in my hand, so it doesn't make too much sense to keep on trying to push it . . . and then I won't be ready." Okur is out because he strained his right hamstring in the first half of Monday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Jazz continue to call him out "day-to-day," and it remains to be seen if he'll be ready for the start of the playoffs. With those two usual starters out Tuesday, Jarron Collins opened at center and fellow veteran Matt Harpring at small forward. The start was Collins' third of the season, and it was the second straight for Harpring, who made his first of the season Monday. In their final regular-season game, this was the 20th different opening lineup the injury-plagued Jazz used in 82 games. "We've had teams that have not had injuries, and that makes it a lot easier," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "But when you have them, that's part of the business. Everybody has to go through it." The Jazz opened with backup power forward Paul Millsap and usual starting power forward Carlos Boozer inside for Monday's second half, but Sloan said he opted for Collins over Millsap on Tuesday because of the length and size of the Lakers with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in their frontcourt. MORE HARPRING: After starting him in Miles' place Monday ? and seeing how much grit, toughness and energy his team got from him ? Sloan plans to utilize the sporadically used Harpring during the playoffs. Just how much, however, remains to be seen. Harpring's right knee has twice been repaired via microfracture surgery, and he missed 14 games this season due to injury ? eight early in the season while rehabbing a surgically repaired ankle, and six with a strained lower back. "That's one of the things that's happened all year when I've played him, is he's had some problems," Sloan said. "But, you know, I try to understand that as much as I can. I don't want to break him down any more, other than to play him a little bit and see how he does." AWARD TALK: Because Millsap didn't start Tuesday, and he wound up coming off the bench for one more game than he started this season, he remains eligible for Sixth Man of the Year award voting. But Millsap appears to be a much-more viable candidate for Most Improved Player. He's already publicly received second-place mention for that honor from at least a couple of voters, ESPN.com's Marc Stein and " TARGET="_blank">SI.com's Chris Mannix, both of whom favor New Jersey's Devin Harris for the award. SHORT BENCH: With Kosta Koufos and Morris Almond currently with the Utah Flash, who play their first NBA Development League playoff game Wednesday night, the Jazz dressed just 11 healthy players Tuesday, one fewer than the maximum allowed. EMAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com