"Coach called upon me," said Price, who did not play at all in the opening half, "and I was able to come in with a little bit of energy, and guys made some shots. And we went on a run."

Actually, it was Price — picked to sub in for Williams over usual backup Jason Hart — who made several of those shots himself.

One night after he finished 4-of-5 from the field in a reserve role at Sacramento, where he started his NBA career, the Utah Valley State product did the same Saturday.

He drove for a wraparound to start the run, hit a 3-pointer to close the third quarter, finished a fastbreak dunk to start Utah's scoring in the fourth, then completed the 9-0 burst by feeding Boozer for a layup.

"He made play after play," Boozer said. "He lifted us up, lifted the crowd up, and everybody got going."

Price was so effective, in fact, that Williams apparently encouraged Sloan to keep him on the floor longer than he might have otherwise.

"DWill told Coach to let him stay out there, because he was playing so well," Boozer said. "That just shows how much confidence we had in him."

Sloan obliged, keeping Williams on the bench longer than usual early in the final quarter and moving Price to shooting guard when Williams finally did re-enter in the fourth.

"I think everybody had to feed off it," Sloan said of Price's spark, "because he made a lot of good plays. It's a comfort to have those things happen. He came out, and was alive, knew what we were doing."

Not that his teammates expected otherwise.

"What he lacks for in size he makes up for with heart," Williams said of the Jazz's usual No. 3 point.

"He's been patiently waiting," Williams added. "He's just one of those guys that keeps working hard. He works extremely hard in practice, doesn't complain, doesn't say nothing, just goes out there and does his job. I think coach really appreciates that — coaching those guys that work hard and don't say much. That's his type of player. And he's a hard-nosed type of player, which coach likes."

And appreciates.

Especially on a night when the trap was begging to spring.

---

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com