Point guard Deron Williams doesn't necessarily buy into that school of thought, but he does deem tonight's visit from the Mavs one of considerable consequence.

"It's definitely a big game," said Williams, who hopes to play despite a deep thigh bruise and knee inflammation that caused him to miss Monday's victory over Charlotte.

"They're right there," Williams added. "We gain a game on them if we win. TNT (television) game. So, it's a game we need."

At ninth in the West and a close crop out of the conference's current playoff picture, the Jazz indeed are cognizant of just what's at stake.

Yet they're also well-aware of who stands in the way.

That would be Mavs All-Star and former NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki, who merely scored a game-high 39 points and shot 16-of-20 from the field when Utah fell 115-108 back on Jan. 17 in Dallas.

Complicating matters is that the Jazz tonight will be without forward Andrei Kirilenko, who -- if he weren't still recovering from recent ankle surgery -- would be one of the primary defenders assigned to Nowitzki.

"Well, we have to do it with whatever we got, you know? That's just the way it is," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who suggested power forward Paul Millsap likely will start on the 7-footer.

"I mean, we just have to do what we can, try to give as much help as we can," Sloan added. "He's such a great player. He's so big and long. You fail to realize, the way he plays, that he's as tall as he is. He's just a wonderful player."

Millsap, for one, doesn't dispute that -- which is why he couldn't help but chuckle a bit when asked what he can do to be effective in trying to guard the big German.

"Just be physical with him -- and hope for the best, basically," Millsap said.

"When he gets going, you know, it's hard to stop him," the Jazz forward added. "So, I think the key is to try to knock him out of his comfort zone and try not to let him get those rhythm shots he takes."

Those are, after all, shots that tend to fall more often than not -- even the seemingly impossible ones, like those sometimes taken at the oddest of angles.

"There are guys all across the league that can make tough shots," Williams said.

"But those are shots I think he practices. It's not something you're used to hitting," he added. "They're off-balance shots. It seems like he's perfected those shots. Those are part of his game. So you've just got to expect that when you play him."

It can also be anticipated that Nowitzki might get a bit rattled when banged to excess.

The last two times he has played in Utah, the Mavs big man wound up suspended for one game.

Once it was because of how Kirilenko fell hard to the floor when he dared to drive on Nowitzki, and last December it was because he back-fisted pesky defender Matt Harpring in the face.

Nowitzki subsequently complained to reporters in Dallas that:

-- Sloan has "the boys play hard ... sometimes on the edge" (Dallas Morning News);

-- When the Jazz play in Utah, "They don't call a lot of fouls there. ... They let guys just play hard and I've just got to be more ready to take the hits and play through it" (NBA.com).

Asked if they might be in Nowitzki's head when playing at home, opinions in Jazz camp Wednesday were mixed.

"I hope so," said Williams, "because when he was at home he was pretty unconscious."

"That sounds good," Millsap said. "But I don't know if it's 'being in his head' or not, because he's a great player. Everybody knows that."

Sloan certainly does and isn't afraid to acknowledge it.

"I don't think you stop guys like that," he said.

"Because he can shoot 3-point shots," the Jazz coach added. "He pulls you out on the floor and puts you in an unnatural position ... if you're a defender, unless you play a 3-man (small forward) on him. And then the size differential is tremendous. So we just have to do the best we can."

Head games notwithstanding.

"Players can say whatever they want. I don't have a problem with that," Sloan said. "We just have to go play Basketball, and not get caught up in that sort of stuff.

"Maybe some guys use that as a mechanism to get themselves ready to play," he added with reference to Nowitzki's complaints. "Other guys, you know, just go play. And that's what we have to do. We can't worry about comments."

At least not with the playoff race being what it is. E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com