Kyrylo Fesenko ain't playin' games
Kyrylo Fesenko's(notes) coming for you, ball. Oh, sure, he's a few steps behind right now -- he might even appear a bit out of focus, if your eyes are trained on Arron Afflalo(notes) and Wesley Matthews(notes). But rest assured, he's coming. And when he gets there, according to the über-sweet tweets of ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz, he'll be DEAD. SERIOUS.
Obviously, this bums me out to no end for two main reasons. One, I firmly believe in jokes. I think they're wonderful and that we could all use more of them. Secondly -- and most importantly -- how was I not aware of the fact that Kyrylo Fesenko also firmly believes in jokes? Think about it: If he's making no more than five jokes per day now that he's refocused and more serious, it stands to reason that, to this point, he's been firing off at least a half-dozen daily gems on the reg. So we've all been missing out. (Personally, I blame Basketball John at SLC Dunk. Next time, keep me in the hilarity loop, will ya?)
Kidding aside (which, admittedly, is the point), I'm sure word of Fesenko's renewed commitment is music to Jazz fans' ears. With a torn Achilles tendon knocking starting center Mehmet Okur(notes) out of Utah's equation and Andrei Kirilenko(notes) still sidelined with a strained left calf, the Jazz are not only going to have to rely more on the two-headed power forward monster of Carlos Boozer(notes) and Paul Millsap(notes), but also far more than they ever would have anticipated on previously little-used bench mobber Fesenko (he averaged only 8.3 minutes per game for the Jazz during the regular season), and possibly, if things get nuts, on even-less-used Kosta Koufos(notes) (just 4.8 MPG).
As KD told us in yesterday's BtB, Fesenko's capable of standing tall when his number's called; with the series knotted at 1-1 going back to Salt Lake, I'm sure the EnergySolutions Arena faithful want to know that Kyrylo's willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the team. One man wasn't happy to hear the news, though -- Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. In a shocking turn of events, he seemed upset.
