There's light at the end of the tunnel for the Jazz, who will play only one more game before Deron Williams is expected to return Wednesday against Memphis.

Coincidentally, the final game he will miss is against the Chicago Bulls, the same team the Jazz were playing in the preseason when Williams suffered the second-degree sprained left ankle that has kept him out of 12 games this season.

Williams suffered the injury when he landed on guard Derrick Rose's foot on a 3-point attempt on Oct. 18. After watching the replay, Williams thought there was no ill intent on Rose's part.

It will be the fifth of six games for the Bulls on their annual circus trip, as well as the second game of a back-to-back set.

The short-handed Utah Jazz got defensive against the young Memphis Grizzlies. Mehmet Okur had a season-high 23 points, leading the Jazz to a 103-94 victory over Memphis on Saturday night. The Jazz were without guard Deron Williams, leading scorer and rebounder Carlos Boozer and key reserve Kyle Korver, but still managed to overcome the offensive loss with a strong defense effort.

Roger Mason was supposed to be a complementary piece when the San Antonio Spurs signed him as a free agent during the offseason. But Mason was the one drawing the compliments Friday night. Mason scored 29 points and the Spurs made 15 of 25 3-pointers to beat the Utah Jazz 119-94. "I wasn't going to go too crazy, but it was one of those nights," Mason said.

Once they saw the Milwaukee Bucks were getting tired, C.J. Miles and the Utah Jazz really put on the pressure. "Coach (Jerry Sloan) wanted us to run and be aggressive late in the game. They started getting on their heels and we took it to them," said Miles, who scored a season-high 25 points in Utah's 104-94 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Utah coach Jerry Sloan was perplexed. After losing three straight at the end of a dismal road trip, the Jazz looked like NBA title contenders back at home. Utah ended a three-game losing streak by beating Phoenix 109-97 on Monday night, outrebounding the Suns 47-26 and holding Shaquille O'Neal to one rebound.

LeBron James calls the fourth quarter "winning time." The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar proved that yet again Saturday night. James scored 16 of his 38 points in the final period, leading a second-half rally that gave the Cavaliers their seventh straight victory, 105-93 over the short-handed Utah Jazz.

Larry Brown and Jerry Sloan have combined for more than 2,000 NBA victories. On Friday night they both had to work hard searching for the right lineups because of key injuries. In the end it was the well-traveled Brown, now in Charlotte, who edged the permanent fixture on Utah's bench. With Raymond Felton scoring 23 points, Gerald Wallace adding 22 and Adam Morrison leading an effective band of...

This was, remember, Game 6 of 82, an early step in a long journey. Yet there was Caron Butler, near center court, animatedly pulling off his jersey and waving it at the final horn, celebrating a victory as though it truly meant a lot to him. Moments earlier, as Butler and fellow All-Star Antawn Jamison were combining for 20 fourth-quarter points, there were their Washington Wizards teammates, up...

The Utah Jazz played really well without star point guard Deron Williams, winning five of their first six games. They're thrilled to have him back. Williams played for the first time this season to lead the Utah Jazz past the Philadelphia 76ers 93-80 on Tuesday night. He had seven points and nine assists after missing the first six games because of a sprained left ankle he suffered in a preseason...

The first quality victory of the Mike D'Antoni era came the way the New York Knicks used to win games: with defense. Jamal Crawford scored 32 points, and the Knicks toughened up defensively in the second half to end the Utah Jazz's undefeated start with a 107-99 victory Sunday. Zach Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks (4-2), who moved two games over .500 for the first time since...