For three straight games last week, Matt Harpring's right knee was so swollen he could not play. Monday against San Antonio, Harpring logged 27 minutes and scored a bench-high 12 points.

So it goes, and probably will continue to for some time, for the Jazz forward whose surgically repaired knee causes virtually constant consternation.

"It's frustrating," said Harpring, who underwent microfracture surgery on the joint a few days after last season ended, "but I'm gonna have ups and downs.

"The surgery I had requires (recovery) time," he added. "I don't have time on my side, but I have to give myself the best chance for it to heal, so it's a balancing act right now."

Harpring — averaging 11.3 points, third for the Jazz behind only Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko — has missed nine of 55 games due to the knee this season. Some absences resulted from pre-planned and doctor-ordered rest; others, including last week's, were because of unexpected inflammation.

Still, the 29-year-old Jazz captain insists he does not allow the knee to keep him down — or cause him to wonder how it will affect his contract status for the coming summer, when he'll be an unrestricted free agent.

"What it is it is, you know?" he said. "I'm out here playing. I do what I do. I like playing, and whatever happens, happens.

"If it's not worth it," Harpring added, "I wouldn't be out here."

DERON'S DESIRES: Jazz rookie point guard Deron Williams hopes he'll be among those named today to play in the NBA's annual All-Star Game Weekend Rookie Challenge Game that will be held Feb. 17 in Houston.

"It would be great to go," the ex-University of Illinois star said.

There is something else for which Williams, who backs up Keith McLeod, wishes.

"I feel I should be out there playing," the No. 3 overall selection in last June's NBA Draft said Tuesday, "but Coach (Jerry) Sloan doesn't."

Williams, averaging 26.5 minutes per game this season, seemed well aware Tuesday that he logged just nine minutes in Monday's loss to the Spurs while the draft's No. 4 pick, Wake Forest product Chris Paul, played 39 in New Orleans/Oklahoma City's Monday win over Milwaukee.

MALONE ROAD? Besides retiring his uniform number and unveiling a statue of him on March 23, the Jazz are quietly working on one more way to honor Karl Malone.