If Miles does play, he plans on resuming his role as the starting small forward.

"If that's something I'm going to have to do then I'm going to have to do it," he said of potentially needing to win back his starter's position. "But coach has said he's never given away a job from an injury."

Miles wants to stay "within my game" and play like he was before getting injured last Wednesday when he does return.

"I can't come back and not play well and expect to stay there, I know that much," he said.

Though he signed an offseason offer sheet with Oklahoma City — which the Jazz matched to retain his services — this is Miles' first trip there since the Thunder franchise relocated from Seattle.

MISSING D-WILL: Point guard Deron Williams sat out practice Tuesday, though not because of the sinus infection that kept him out of two recent practices. Williams suffered a bruised left foot Monday when Indiana's Jeff Foster landed on him late in the fourth quarter. X-rays taken at the arena were negative, and Williams is considered "probable" to play against the Thunder.

ENERGY FOR ROAD: Coach Jerry Sloan said his team will need to pick up its play to continue its winning streak, which is now at four as the Jazz visit Oklahoma City, Memphis and Dallas this week.

"We have to have a great deal more intensity to play on the road than sometimes you do at home, because your crowd can pick you up," he said. "And our fans have been terrific to support us when we kind of get in trouble. Only a couple of times they've booed us."

The boos, Sloan said, were "deserved," too.

He credited the home crowd for giving his team a needed lift, adding that "for the most part they've got behind these guys and helped them keep their energy going and that's something they have to learn to do when you get out on the road."

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