Turkey - Summer play may be catching up with Okur

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Neither starting power forward Carlos Boozer nor starting center Mehmet Okur played in the Jazz's 120-96 win Friday night over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boozer was out with a sprained right ankle that cropped up when he noticeably landed awkwardly while going for a rebound in last Wednesday's win at Philadelphia.

Okur's back spasms also stem back to the Philly game, yet they're much more deep-rooted.

It hadn't previously cost him any time, but Okur — who played in last season's NBA All-Star Game, and returned to play internationally this past summer for the Turkish National Team — has quietly dealt all season and preseason with a bit of a sore back.

And his history of back issues is even older than that.

Though he didn't miss a game during the 2004-05 or 2005-06 NBA seasons, Okur — a proud Turk — cited lingering soreness throughout the '05-06 season and a bulging disc in his injured back as the reason for his controversial decision to not play with Turkey's team at the '06 FIBA World Championships in Japan.

He even produced medical evidence regarding the disc — results of an MRI scan — to help present his case to national-team officials.

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The exam, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said at the time, "showed some bulging in the disc."

A bulging disc — a term some use to describe when one of the shock-absorbing discs between the vertebrae protrudes in a non-ruptured fashion into the spinal canal, sometimes pressing against one of the nerves forming the sciatic nerve — is an injury common to athletes and non-athletes alike.

This time, the Jazz are saying the injury is only muscle-related — and that an MRI exam taken last Thursday is no different structurally to one taken last year, meaning that there is no new damage.

But the 28-year-old Okur, a member of Turkey's national program since he was 14, readily acknowledges that his current injury may be related to years' worth of virtual year-round play.

His back has bothered him, Okur said after he exited the Philly game early, "since I played almost every summer of basketball, and a long (NBA) season.

"It's just part of my life," Okur added.

The reality that his summer play may catch up with Okur, coach Jerry Sloan said, is a concern with which the Jazz simply must live.

"You do (fear that), but what do we do?" Sloan asked. "I mean, I'd like to do the right thing ... but the only thing that you can do is continue to play."

The Jazz didn't practice Saturday, and it's uncertain whether Okur or team scoring-leader Boozer will be available when Utah faces Miami on Monday at EnergySolutions Arena.

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