Players battle through nicks and bruises

Backup shooting guard Kyle Korver played with a wrap on his knee, because of a hyperextension he said he sustained in a recent practice.

Starting point Deron Williams played for a second straight game with a sleeve and elbow pad on his right arm, just to be cool, he joked.

"I just wanted to look like Allen Iverson, Carmelo (Anthony)," he cracked. "I wanted to be like those guys."

Seriously, Williams said after the Jazz's 100-94 Saturday over Atlanta, it was because of a bone bruise on his elbow.

Yet the worse for wear among Jazz players Saturday may have been starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko, who already was slowed by flu-like symptoms that caused him to miss practice last Thursday.

"I'm still a little sick, and still feel like I have a little less energy than usually," Kirilenko said after an 11-point, four-rebound night that followed his four-point, five-board showing in Friday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

To make matters tougher for Kirilenko, he said he "got a huge hit in my head."

"For probably like five, six minutes I was a little frustrated," said Kirilenko, adding he felt lucky he didn't have a concussion. "I got hit in my jaw. Sore in many places. Inside lip, a little bleeding. And I hit my elbow on the floor, and part of my butt."

Kirilenko, though, suggested he should be good to go when the Jazz play next, Tuesday at Minnesota.

DOWN ON THE FARM: Jazz-assigned rookie guard Morris Almond had 34 points and shot 13-of-20 from the field for the NBA Development League's Utah Flash in their 119-99 win over Tulsa on Friday night.

Almond is averaging 26.3 points in 20 games for the Flash. He's led the farm team in scoring in each of its last four games.

HE WROTE IT: ESPN.com's Marc Stein, assessing the NBA's trade-deadline deals and ranking the Jazz's acquisition of Korver from Philadelphia No. 3 behind only Pau Gasol from Memphis to the Los Angeles Lakers and Shaquille O'Neal from Miami to Phoenix:

"This deal happened in December and it happened in Utah, making it twice as likely to be overlooked amid all the February Madness. But that doesn't mean it wasn't brilliant. The Jazz won the Korver Sweepstakes, such as they were, because they were the only suitor willing to package a first-round pick with an expiring contract (Gordan Giricek). In return, Utah got its best 2-guard since Jeff Hornacek.