Long after the lights were turned out from Saturday's public scrimmage at the Delta Center, Jazz guard Raul Lopez hobbled onto the court with a basketball and a chair.

He parked in front of the free throw line in the darkened arena and began shooting, shot after shot after shot.

"Basketball is my life," Lopez said a day earlier. "For me the most important thing is playing basketball."

The Spaniard's lifelong dream of playing in the NBA has taken a lengthy detour as he recovers from his second major knee surgery in less than a year.

That means spending three hours each day working with Jazz physical therapist Moe Forsyth, and another three hours each day working with strength and conditioning coach Mark McKown.