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Injury-plagued Jazz, Bucks square off

Nov 19, 2008 - 11:23 AM Milwaukee (5-7) at Utah (7-4), 9:00 p.m. EST

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- It was smooth sailing for Deron Williams and Michael Redd this summer. As members of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, the two cruised to a gold medal in Beijing. The ensuing start of the NBA's regular season, however, hasn't gone quite as smoothly.

The injured stars are game-time decisions for their pseudo-reunion on Wednesday, as Williams' Utah Jazz host Redd's Milwaukee Bucks.

Williams has missed nine of his team's 11 games after suffering a sprained left ankle during the preseason. He briefly returned last week for both ends of a back-to-back, but later acknowledged he came back too early, and has once again been sidelined over Utah's last three games.

Redd, meanwhile, is in a similar situation - he sprained his right ankle in a November 2 victory over the New York Knicks and has missed the last eight games.

The Jazz have admirably weathered the storm in Williams' absence - not to mention injuries to Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring and five games without All-Star center Mehmet Okur, who took a leave of absence to be with his gravely ill father in Turkey. They stumbled through a three-game losing streak during last week's road trip, but have still gotten off to a 7-4 start - including 5-0 at home, where they were a league-best 37-4 last season.

Kirilenko, Okur and Harpring are all expected to be available, but the status of their star point guard and leader remains up in the air. Even without Williams and Okur, the Jazz returned home on Monday with one of their best performances, dominating the fourth quarter en route to a 109-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Carlos Boozer and unproven swingman C.J. Miles led the way with 21 points apiece and Kirilenko added 19 off the bench as the Jazz rode a 17-2 fourth-quarter run to victory - the seventh in their last nine meetings with the Suns.

The Bucks haven't fared quite as well without Redd, their leading scorer the last five seasons. They have dropped six of eight - though, in fairness, they have faced seven playoff teams from 2007-08 in that span.

Jefferson leads the way for Milwaukee with 18.7 points per game, but is shooting just 40.5 percent from the field.