Utah Jazz notes: Nowitzki made heads-up play

DALLAS — The Jazz spent late Thursday trying to figure out just what went wrong when Dirk Nowitzki hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining in a 97-94 win over Utah.

Nowitzki, though, knows just happened in the ensuing time after Jazz point Deron Williams hit a trey of his own to tie the game at 94-94 with 5.8 seconds left.

"I saw the ball go in off the glass and I knew we didn't have a timeout left," the NBA's reigning MVP said. "Usually you take a timeout there, and set up a play, and we all knew that we didn't have a timeout left, so (point Jason) Kidd took it out really quick and got it to Eddie (Jones).

"Eddie did a great job of pushing the ball and making the defense collapse on him," Nowitzki added, "and I was wide open on the wing, and at that point I really didn't know how much time was left, but I knew I had to let it go, and I'm happy it went in."

He was hardly alone in that regard.

"The MVP — what can I say," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "Great heroics down the stretch."

"(Jones) came up with a huge assist," Dallas coach Avery Johnson added, "and Dirk made a great shot."

EASING BACK: Ronnie Brewer had eight points on 4-of-8 shooting in 19 minutes while playing his second game after missing three with a groin strain.

But the Jazz's starting shooting guard readily admits he's not back to full strength.

"Just trying to get my legs back under me, gradually get my minutes back and my conditioning back," Brewer said before Thursday's game.

"Whenever you come in from injury, you're just trying to get back into the rhythm you had before you sat out. That's basically what I'm trying to do. I was playing well before I got injured, so I'm just trying to get back to that point," he added. "To think logically, it's gonna take a little bit of time. Conditioning, having your legs under you, and your confidence - it's all gonna take time. Hopefully it will be sooner than later."

SMALL WORLD: Amid talk that he might be leaving next year anyway to coach Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko's old CSKA Moscow club, a rumor he reportedly denied, American David Blatt was fired this week as coach of Efes Pilsen, Jazz center Mehmet Okur's former team in Turkey.

Blatt also is head coach of the Kirilenko-led Russian National Team that won this past summer's FIBA European Championships, and that will play in the upcoming Summer Olympics in China.