DENVER — Point guard Deron Williams recently joked that he was waiting to shave his beard until the Jazz won five straight games.

He's actually trimmed it a couple of times since.

But after beating Milwaukee on Saturday night the Jazz have now won four in a row, with Northwest Division-foe Denver awaiting tonight in an ESPN-televised game here.

That prompted someone to ask Williams on Saturday if, should the Jazz indeed beat the Nuggets, he planned to remove the beard altogether.

"I won't lose it,'' he said, running fingers and a thumb over the facial hair. "I'll probably just trim it a little bit, at least.''

With the Jazz playing so well lately, maybe now Williams is waiting for 10 consecutive wins before everything has to go.

Or maybe he's simply waiting to get named to his first NBA All-Star Game.

-30-