Eighteen seconds after Ronnie Brewer entered the game Friday night with 1:44 left in the first half, Mehmet Okur found him on the baseline for a lob-pass layup.

His opponent, All-Star Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, seemed to take it personally, immediately scoring a 19-foot turnaround jumper over the young Utah Jazz swingman and coming back with a spinning, driving layup against Brewer.

It did not shake Brewer that Anthony could do that against him.

"No, because he doesn't average 30 points by not going at people," Brewer said. "I knew he was going to be aggressive throughout the whole game, and I just had to be ready. He makes tough shots, and even when you play great defense, he might hit a jump shot in your face."

Or 10.

In just his third game back from a 15-game NBA suspension, Anthony scored 37.

But Brewer, who hadn't played through five straight games of coach's-decision rest periods, enthused Jazz fans and was a big part of Utah's big run late in the third period and early in the fourth that brought the Jazz from 11 down to a 91-91 tie on a Brewer baseline reverse layup from Deron Williams.

His rebound on the ensuing Allen Iverson miss set up an Okur runner across the lane for a Jazz lead, and Brewer was in the game in the final 21 seconds as Utah pulled off a 115-111 victory in EnergySolutions Arena, breaking a Denver five-game win streak and giving the Nuggets their first loss of the Anthony-Iverson era.

Brewer spent just 16 minutes on the floor, but he tied his career scoring high with 12 points, making his first five shots and missing only the last one when a Nugget undercut his legs a bit but no foul was called. He had four boards and a steal and made some plays that don't equate to numbers — he guarded Anthony well enough to get him to pass off a couple times, and he drew a foul by Anthony with about four minutes left.

Brewer's baskets, all reverse layins or dunks, ignited the Utah crowd and seemed to energize the team, especially when he made a reverse after a Carlos Boozer steal, rebounded Denver's next shot by Iverson and made a layin that had Anthony flying past him on the baseline, all within 36 seconds as Utah cut an 82-74 lead to 82-78 and forced the Nuggets to call time.

Brewer said he just tried to cut hard when he got the chance, and that resulted in getting on top of the basket, just the way the Jazz like to do things.

Brewer just wanted to do what he could and said he'd spent all his time trying to be positive about not playing, working on another aspect of his game every day and determined to be ready when he got the chance.