Jazz assistant coach Tyrone Corbin told 6-foot-7 starting guard Ronnie Brewer that, with his size, he needed to be getting more rebounds to help out the team. Thursday, Brewer had no excuses.

"I told him it's tough when (Carlos) Boozer's out there, and Memo (Mehmet Okur) and Paul (Millsap), but those guys weren't out there tonight, so I had to go out there and help our big guys rebound," said Brewer, who had one of his best all-around career games Friday night in helping Utah to an improbable 97-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz were without their three regular inside players due to injury, so a bunch of young Jazzmen stepped up, including Brewer and fellow swingman C.J. Miles.

Miles had 14 points, making half his shots, and had a block and two rebounds.

Brewer totaled 21 points with 8-for-15 shooting, four points off his career high.

"I was just knocking down shots," said Brewer. "D-Will (Deron Williams) was looking for me, and I was just being confident, being aggressive."

Brewer was just one rebound from matching his career best, getting seven. He added two steals and some deflections.

"I just wanted to provide some energy somewhere on the defensive end, getting rebounds, getting deflections, and that would lead to my offense, and that's what happened tonight," Brewer said — on a night when he gave guard Ronnie Price a scare on the bench.

"When I got subbed out," Brewer said, "I was like, 'Man,' I said, 'You watch out, Ronnie Price. I'm going to throw up.'"

"He was like, 'What?'

"I just had to get up and go to the back," where he put his head in a trash can in the tunnel to the Jazz locker room. "But I was able to come back into the game."

Brewer said he wasn't really sick and had eaten the same pregame meal he usually does, and he hadn't felt any extra nerves. "I just had to get it off my stomach.

"The trainers told me I ought to eat that every time and throw up every game," Brewer added with a chuckle, noting that Williams told him the story of how the Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan came into what was then the Delta Center during a playoff game terribly ill and scored 38.

Brewer knew he'd done nothing in that class, but to even make someone remember Jordan's feat was nice.

Brewer, Corbin and Miles had all come in on a flight from Dallas Thursday night after visiting their homes for Christmas, landing late, at about 11 p.m. in a scary snowstorm.

"You couldn't see anything," said Miles. "I didn't know how close we were to the ground. It actually scared me when we hit because I couldn't see anything, so I wasn't ready for it."

Miles had worried a bit, wondering if he should have gone home for just a day, but the victory made him feel better. "It was good to go home — now that I know everything worked out," he said, satisfied that he'd contributed to a victory over his hometown team and shown his uncles, cousins and friends — all Mavericks fans — that he'd been right the day before when he'd stood up for his team. "It feels good, knowing that they saw the game (on television), too."

Miles said he and Brewer talked before the game about having to become more aggressive with all the big men out "He did a great job of doing that tonight," Miles said of Brewer, "making steals and doing what he does, and I just tried to fill the gaps. I just tried to play off of him and off of Deron and Kosta (Koufos) as well. I just tried to fill in the void and make some shots."