In Utah's 97-88 win over Dallas, however, the two were fantastic, and a big reason, along with Andrei Kirilenko's 13 rebounds, that the Jazz were able to dominate the Mavericks in the front court.

Both players attained career-highs, with Koufos scoring 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds, and Fesenko scoring eight points, to go along with four rebounds and three blocked shots.

Defensively, the two held Erick Dampier to a single bucket, effectively turning the Mavs into a doughnut team in the process.

"They both did a great job tonight," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I thought both of them were alive and active. When you have that, you have a chance to win every time you get on the floor."

Koufos, in particular, made a huge impact. A much better athlete than he appears, he ran the floor for dunks, blocked a shot and managed to get to his scoring total by taking just 11 shots. He's not the shooter that Okur is, but his athleticism allows him to make plays that Okur doesn't.

And he has gotten better as the season goes on, which is the product of a solid work ethic that Sloan and Jazz management love. Koufos had 10 points and five rebounds in the first half, and he extended that through the third and fourth quarters.

"I just thought about winning the game tonight," Koufos said. "I didn't feel any pressure because I knew that I had great players that were going to get me the ball if I was open."

Fesenko, meanwhile, hit four of his five shots. The eight points may not seem like much, but they came in just 15 minutes of action. One of his blocks was on Dirk Nowitzki when he was isolated with the Dallas star.

It's a far cry from how bad he was against the Bucks. His performance also showed him, if only for one game, that he's capable of playing on this level.

"It always feels good when you play good and your team tells you that you're actually playing good. It's probably the happiest minutes of my life."

tjones@sltrib.com