Andrei Kirilenko Continues Utah's Streak of Bad Luck

The Jazz learned this weekend that Andrei Kirilenko could be sidelined for two weeks with the injured left thumb he suffered in Friday's game. That would take him through the final six games of the regular season and perhaps into the playoffs.

Without him, the Jazz lost their third in a row on Saturday, dropping a winnable game to the Sonics, 106-103. Even though AK-47's contributions on offense have been sporadic this year, his defense was immediately missed. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

[It's] hard not to imagine that Kirilenko might have had some luck defending Seattle's Rashard Lewis, the 6-foot-10 forward who took the game over and scored 16 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter to hand the Jazz their second straight meltdown loss.

"I don't know what happened," center Mehmet Okur said. "We have to figure out what's going on right now."

What's going on is called a "downward spiral." Pending the results of tonight's game against the Warriors (as this is being posted, the Utah trails by 16 at the half), the Jazz have lost nine of their last 14, not exactly the type of rhythm the team would like heading into the playoffs. The Jazz have already won the Northwest Division and are locked into the No. 4 seed behind the Mavericks, Suns and Spurs, so they literally have nothing to play for between now and the postseason, which sadly is already being reflected in their play.

Previously on FanHouse:
Is Kirilenko Holding Back the Jazz?