With Deron Williams on the bench with two early fouls, Dee Brown on a stretcher en route to the hospital and Derek Fisher not in the arena, Utah's bench knew it was going to be needed.

So, when Utah coach Jerry Sloan cast his gaze to his right, he had little choice but to ask a couple of rookies to step into one of the most pressure-packed situations of their careers.

"We try to contribute anyway we can," Jazz rookie Ronnie Brewer said. "You've got to be ready and prepare yourself."

Against Golden State in the Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal, Brewer and fellow rookie Paul Millsap didn't necessarily have overwhelming stat lines, but they had a profound impact on the game nonetheless.

Millsap had his typical game with 10 points and six rebounds. Brewer, seeing his most significant playing time of the postseason, contributed four points and two rebounds.

One of those rebounds and two of those points, however, came at a critical time as he snared a missed 3-point shot by Mehmet Okur and quickly rose above the rim for a two-handed dunk giving Utah a 45-39 lead.

The presence of those two rookies couldn't have been much bigger in the second quarter as they combined for 10 points and four rebounds in nearly 14 minutes of playing time while Sloan opted to rest players like Carlos Boozer, Gordan Giricek and Andrei Kirilenko.

"Coach Sloan has done a good job of picking his spot to put us in," Brewer said. "Sometimes, the older guys get a little tired and we need to be ready at any time. Tonight, I think everyone stepped up when we needed to."

The Jazz entered that second quarter trailing the Warriors 31-28. But with the youngsters forgetting they are still rookies, Utah surged to a 63-58 halftime lead that would have been even more imposing if not for a last-second 3-pointer from Golden State's Matt Barnes.

"We just went through a whole season," Millsap said. "We've been through tough games before. I've tried to learn from my mistakes, stay out of foul trouble and stay in the game."

With Utah's time for learning well in the past, the rookies — including Brown who again provided a nice spark in the few minutes he played before leaving the floor with a neck injury — are indeed playing like players who've been there before.

"We can't get nervous anymore," Millsap said. "This is the playoffs. There's no time left to think about being nervous."

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