TORONTO — Raptors all-star Vince Carter revealed Wednesday night that he will not play for the U.S. Olympic Team in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
"I'm just going to take it easy, let all the injuries heal," said Carter, an U.S. Olympian at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia. "It's a wonderful experience, but I have my duties here as well."
Carter saw to those duties in an 85-81 win over the Jazz on Wednesday — and looked all-world doing it. He scored 24 points, 14 coming in the fourth quarter alone — including what he claimed was his first-ever left-handed dunk.
"He's a great player," Jazz shooting guard Gordan Giricek said of Carter. "He's an all-star player, and people look for him to do what he did tonight.
"He's the biggest reason why they won this game."
Jazz all-star Andrei Kirilenko accepted responsibility for permitting Carter to have the game he did.
"I don't think we did a really good job on Vince. Me personally," Kirilenko said. "At the end of the game, he had like 10 or 15 points in a row (actually, 11 of 13 during one Toronto fourth-quarter run). He was like the guy who created all plays. The key is stop him, but we couldn't.
"The guys like Vince, Kobe (Bryant), Tracy McGrady — they're such great one-on-one players, so you can't shut them down at all. I mean, maybe sometimes. But all you can do is just break his percentage."
Or watch him made 9-of-20 from the field, like he did Wednesday.
CANDIDATE KIRILENKO: Coach of the Year candidate Jerry Sloan is not the Jazz's only possible postseason-award winner.
As the 2003-04 regular season rolls to a close, Kirilenko is starting to receive more and more mention around the league as a potential Defensive Player of the Year — despite his woes Wednesday with Carter, and in large part because of his ability to guard shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards.
Other candidates include two-time winner Ben Wallace of Detroit, Indiana's Ron Artest, San Antonio's two-time MVP Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles.
Kirilenko's other credentials: Heading into Wednesday's games, he was third in blocks per game, behind Wallace and leader Theo Ratliff of Portland, and fifth in steals per game.
Beyond Kirilenko, who finished third in Sixth Man Award voting last season, Jazz swingman Raja Bell and starting point guard Carlos Arroyo may receive consideration for the NBA Most Improved Player award, and Bell could earn Sixth Man votes as well.
Bell went into Wednesday's game averaging 11.1 points per game, eight more than his average last season and 7.2 above his career average. Arroyo was averaging 12.8 points and 5.0 assists, 9.9 points and 3.5 assists above his career averages.
Writers and broadcasters who regularly cover the league vote on the aforementioned awards at the conclusion of the regular season.
HOT TOPIC: The big controversy in Toronto on Wednesday, evidenced by section-front story placement in the local newspapers: The Raptors fired a member of their "Dance Pak" because the 19-year-old dancer is featured on an adults-only web site.
MISC.: The Raptors on Wednesday activated guard Alvin Williams (knee) from the injured list and placed guard Roger Mason Jr. (ankle) on it. Williams returned to his usual starting point-guard position, scoring six points in 27 minutes. . . . Toronto outscored Utah 26-14 in Wednesday's fourth quarter. . . . Giricek's 11 field goals Wednesday were a season high.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com