Utah F Kirilenko suffers broken wrist
March 25, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) - The Utah Jazz cannot wait for the season to end.

Buried near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, the Jazz on Thursday lost the services of forward Andrei Kirilenko, who suffered a broken left wrist in the first quarter of their game against the Washington Wizards.

While driving the lane with 8:58 remaining in the opening period, Kirilenko was fouled by Kwame Brown and fell to the floor, breaking the left wrist and spraining the right.

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"I jumped and lost my balance and fell down on both my wrists," Kirilenko said. "I felt like something was wrong. I didn't feel like it was broken, but I felt like it was a bad sprain."

"There definitely wasn't any malice on my part," Brown said. "I'm sorry that it happened."

The Russian is expected to need six weeks to heal without undergoing surgery, which effectively ends his season.

"(It's) a displaced fracture, which I reduced. He's now in a splint," team doctor Lyle Mason said. "It's a clean break, no surgery, and it should go back to absolutely perfectly normal."

A 1999 first-round pick, Kirilenko was 1-of-1 with a steal in three minutes before suffering the injury. Entering the game, the 2004 All-Star was averaging 16.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in 40 contests.

Kirilenko missed 26 games earlier this season after spraining his right MCL against San Antonio on November 27. During his absence, Utah was just 6-20.

"I've missed more than half the season," Kirilenko said. "This is my second big injury of the season, and I'd never had one before in my professional career, so it's tough."

The Jazz are 14th in the conference with a 21-46 mark. Only New Orleans, Charlotte and Atlanta have fewer wins than Utah.