DALLAS — He knocked down one baseline shot after another, which was the good news for C.J. Miles.
The bad: He was shooting with his right hand, and Miles is left-handed.
The dislocated finger on that hand still was swollen at practice Tuesday, making it quite unlikely the Dallas native will play when the Jazz visit the Mavericks tonight. "This is the first time I haven't had the splint on, and I can't even make a fist," said Miles, who dislocated the finger in Friday's loss to Minnesota and didn't play in Sunday's victory at New Orleans. "I'm pretty sure if somebody threw the ball my way, it (the finger) would probably pop right back out."
With Miles being called doubtful by the team for tonight, backup small forward Andrei Kirilenko is expected to make a second straight start.
If Miles were healthy, though, Kirilenko would go back to the bench.
At least for now.
Later this month, however, things might not be so cut-and-dry.
Or so suggests Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
"A guy gets hurt, I've never let him lose his job that way," Sloan said. "You know, if we started the playoffs, we might start a little differently. But right now, I don't think I'd do that."
MISSING MANU: After playing Dallas tonight, the Jazz close a three-game trip Friday at San Antonio, which on Monday announced that star shooting guard Manu Ginobili will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs due to a stress fracture in his already injured right ankle.
Sloan agrees Ginobili will be missed, but feels the Spurs can overcome his absence.
"They've got a veteran team that knows how to play. They know how to win," he said. "He's a great player, and that certainly hurts your team. But they're a resilient team.
"If anybody could survive it, in my opinion, they would do that, because they've been such a competitive team, a solid team."
NAME GAME: President Barack Obama offered high praise for Jazz center Mehmet Okur during a speech to the Turkish Parliament on Monday, saying he and fellow Turk Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic "have got some pretty good game."
Just how did Okur learn of the name dropping?
"My mom called me," he said Tuesday. "I didn't know. I had no idea. I knew he was in Turkey, and she told me about what he said.
"Honestly, it's a huge honor for me. For my family as well."
The one-time NBA All-Star also once earned mention from former PresidentGeorge W. Bush, shortly after his team at the time, Detroit, won the 2004 NBA Championship.
BY THE NUMBERS: Dallas point guard Jason Kidd came up one point shy of a 20-20 game when the Mavs beat Phoenix on Sunday.
It was the second career 20-or-more assist game for Kidd, who also dished 25 in a 1995 double-overtime game against Utah.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only 18 NBA players have more than two 20-assist games.
Retired Jazz point John Stockton — whose election to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was announced Monday — has the most, 34.
Just three of the 18 are active: Phoenix's Steve Nash (five), the Jazz's Deron Williams (four) and Chris Paul of New Orleans (three).
Sunday's game also pushed Kidd past Magic Johnson and into third place on the NBA's all-time assists list behind leader Stockton and second-place Mark Jackson, who played one season for the Jazz and now works for ESPN and ABC.
TV TALK: ESPN will air tonight's game. So far this season, the Jazz are 6-2 on major national cable TV — 4-1 on TNT, 2-1 on ESPN. Their final national game of the season comes Tuesday, on TNT in their regular-season finale vs. the Lakers in Los Angeles.
E-Mail: tbuckley@desnews.com