"I had to take care of my back, but I'll play though. I'm not going to miss games," said Boozer, who acknowledged the back had bothered him for a couple of weeks. "It caught up to me a little bit. It's fine now," he said.

Harpring, who re-sprained his left wrist in a fall during Tuesday's game, practiced Wednesday and Thursday and expected to play tonight.

KEEPING UP: The Phoenix Suns brought in Shaquille O'Neal, who turns 36 next month, via trade with Miami.

The Jazz have only one player, Harpring, who is as old as 30.

But Williams had a thought. "Maybe we need to have a 35-year-old somebody. I told Jeff he needs to come back and play," Williams said of former Jazzman Jeff Hornacek, 44, who has been working as a special part-time assistant coach helping players such as Andrei Kirilenko with their shooting.

Williams said he mentioned it to Hornacek. "Spot up. That's all you got to do is spot up," he told him. "I'll get it to you."

STAYING AHEAD: Williams was perturbed that Denver, 1 1/2 games behind the Jazz, who lead the NBA Northwest, won at Boston Tuesday to keep pace with the Jazz. "Yeah, I was so mad. They always do that, though. We can't get any separation," he said.

"That's cool though. We're going to have to fight the whole way."

MILLER TIME: Former Denver Nugget and former Utah Ute Andre Miller has been a bit of a mystery to his Philadelphia 76ers teammates for more than a year and a half because he's so quiet, writes Dan Gelston of The Associated Press. "He can be so serious. He's always a little quiet," Gelston quoted Sixer Samuel Dalembert on Miller, whose name was mentioned often in recent trade rumors but who remains in Philly.

But Andre Iguodala sees Miller's exterior cracking a bit. On a recent plane ride, Miller talked "five minutes straight," Iguodala said, adding all the players were looking at him. "He stopped talking and guys were looking around, going, 'Keep going, keep going' We're not used to this. I think he's definitely opening up to us, and it's been really helpful."

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com