"Two days after he exited the Jazz's loss in Houston in the third quarter with soreness in his left Achilles' tendon, Mehmet Okur reported improvement Friday, but with an asterisk of sorts.

"Without running, without jumping, it feels better," Okur said, adding, "I'm glad we have three days [off] after this game and we're going to keep doing what we've been doing, treatment, and hopefully I'll be OK next game after this."

Okur shot some free throws and walked through the Jazz's pregame shootaround but did not play against New Orleans. He said he wanted to play in the Jazz's last two regular-season games next week rather than waiting to return with the start of the playoffs.

The Jazz started Paul Millsap in Okur's absence. Kyrylo Fesenko would have been an option, but Fesenko missed the last two games with a sore throat and migraines.

Andrei Kirilenko sat out for the 13th time in 15 games with his strained left calf.

Sunday games?

In his latest set of mailbag answers on the team's Web site, chief executive Greg Miller strongly suggested that the Jazz's commitment to not scheduling Sunday home games out of respect for the area's LDS Church leanings isn't about to change. "