"The energy should be there all the time and not just once in a while," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "We had a nice game, they got ready to go, they're on television, but I think we have the ability to be able to play like that all the time."

Williams finished with 34 points and 12 assists in 35 minutes, hitting five three-pointers as he made his return after missing Monday's victory over Charlotte with a bruised right quadriceps and swollen knee.

"I think he's just now getting in better shape to play Basketball," Sloan said. "He was out for a period of time, and I think his conditioning, he looks a lot quicker, he's able to keep guys in front of him a lot better, and I think all those are helping him."

He scored 16 points and hit three three-pointers in the third quarter alone, which the Jazz won 37-19. It was enough to stop Dallas' four-game winning streak on a night the Mavericks' big three of Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jason Terry went quietly.

They combined to score 45 points - - only six more than Nowitzki had solo against the Jazz last month - - and made a combined 18 of 51 shots (35.3 percent). Nowitzki had 14 points on 6 of 20 shooting, Howard had 18 (7 of 18) and Terry 13 (5 of 13).

With the victory, the Jazz (28-22) moved back into playoff position by a half-game over Phoenix. They trail the seventh-place Mavericks by 1 1-2 games, but ensured no worse than a split of the season series should the teams end up with identical records.

Having gone 1-11 in the second game of back-to-back sets, the Jazz will have the chance to break through with a victory tonight at 11-39 Sacramento, which is coming off a 48-point loss Monday to Phoenix.

"If we lose tomorrow night," Kyle Korver said, "it kind of washes out."

The Jazz stretched a 10-point halftime lead to 19 in less than six minutes to start the second half. Williams kept pushing the ball and capped a 14-2 run with the alley-oop dunk to Millsap, to make it 73-54. After a three-point play by Howard, the Jazz scored 11 straight points to make it 84-57. Williams hit a three-pointer, Korver followed with another, Millsap put back Korver's missed layup on the break and Williams connected again from long distance.

The Jazz took a 94-66 lead into the fourth quarter as Howard committed a flagrant foul on Williams, then drew a technical for intercepting referee David Guthrie's pass to Ronnie Brewer as Guthrie tried to restart the game.

Nowitzki scored 39 points and hit 16 of 20 shots in the Mavericks' 115-108 victory Jan. 17 in Dallas. The Jazz wanted no part of a sequel Thursday and double-teamed Nowitzki aggressively from the start.

Although they had opportunities, the Mavericks couldn't make the Jazz pay. They hit only 7 of 25 shots (28.0 percent) in the first quarter. Howard was 2 of 9, Nowitzki 2 of 7 and Jason Kidd missed two open three-pointers.

Korver started in place of C.J. Miles, who was home with bronchitis, and scored a season-high 20 points. Brevin Knight did leave the game in the second quarter with an injured left thumb and didn't return.

"They obvious may have been a little bit tired, but I think our guys took advantage of that as much as they could pretty much all night long," Sloan said.

rsiler@sltrib.com