But there is a blip of light amid the darkness of it all, and it emanates from point guard Deron Williams.

"The last two or three games he's really been alive," said Sloan, whose 29-22 Jazz visit Golden State tonight. "His body just looks more alive."

Even as beat up as it is.

Williams missed the Jazz's victory over Charlotte last Monday night due to a deep quadriceps muscle contusion and resulting swelling in his right knee.

He continues to wear a protective sleeve on his right leg, from well above the knee down to the calf.

Yet he's scored a team-high 34 points in each of the Jazz's last two games -- Thursday night's home victory over Dallas and Friday's visit with the Kings.

And he had a season-high 35 in the game in which he bruised his thigh, a loss last weekend at Portland.

In the last four games in which he's played, in fact, Williams has led the Jazz in scoring.

Against the Kings, the usual chief distributor simply took over down the stretch.

The Jazz point scored 12 of Utah's final 17 points in the final four minutes and 32 seconds Friday, including a driving layup for the final go-ahead basket, and he voluntarily took on super-hot Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin, drawing a critical charge from the Sacramento star with 34.1 seconds to go despite not defending him for most of the night.

"We had our opportunities in the game," Kings interim head coach Kenny Natt, the former Jazz assistant coach, said afterward.

"But Deron Williams just decided he wouldn't let it happen," Natt added. "He turned it up another notch on us."

He did, because he could -- which is something he simply could not have done a couple months back.

After missing 13 games earlier this season because of a sprained left ankle sustained in the preseason, it seems the body finally is starting to come around.

Which certainly is a good thing for the Jazz.

"The thing about Deron is you hope that kid can stay healthy, because he is the engine that makes that team go," retired Jazz star Karl Malone said during an appearance on TNT a few nights back. "He's playing hurt, but I just love the way he plays."

Truth be told, Williams really is still playing sore.

His body may be en route to full health, but it's definitely not all the way there yet -- and probably will not be until there is time for a summer's worth of rest.

"I'm a lot more explosive right now," Williams, who won Olympic gold with Team USA in China last offseason, said after Friday's game.

But, he hastened to add, "You know, my ankle still hurts. It's gonna hurt the whole season. But I've learned to deal with the pain.

"I might not have the bounce I had, and might not get up on anybody, but I'm finding ways to score -- which is just kind of making adjustments to my game."

Altered favorably a bit as well, in the course of Utah's sudden resurgence, is Williams' outlook.

He long has eagerly awaited the return of both Boozer and Kirilenko, the need to play their way into game shape notwithstanding.

And while he's not headed himself to next Sunday's NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, Williams -- still awaiting his first appearance in the league's annual showcase game -- in the meantime can at least enjoy savoring what the Jazz have been able to accomplish in the last week and a half.

That would be going from a club that had lost four in a row and five of six to one that has come out ahead in not only three straight but also four of its last five.

Thursday's win over Dallas, Williams said, "was definitely a confidence-builder, and I think these (along with Friday's victory in Sacramento) are the games you need.

"You know -- tough, hard-fought wins," he added. "Because (falling to the 11-victory Kings) could have been a tragic loss." E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com