SALT LAKE CITY – During Avery Johnson's tribute at his jersey retirement Saturday in San Antonio, a video clip of him at the team's 1999 championship ceremony was shown.

He asked the crowd first if the Lakers had won the title that season, then if it was Portland and finally if it was Utah. Each time, the crowd booed.

There was particular venom in his voice for the Utah part of the equation.

"We didn't like those guys," Johnson says now, "because it took us a long time to get past them."

That was then. This is now. The feelings aren't really all that different for the Mavericks. Just last season, Jerry Stackhouse said the Jazz was guilty of playing "coward basketball." That came after two flagrant fouls and an ejection for Stackhouse in a game at EnergySolutions Arena.

A month later, the Mavericks went back to Utah and won, using the earlier 22-point loss as motivation.

When it comes to rivals, everybody focuses on San Antonio, Phoenix and Houston as the Mavericks' most emotionally charged adversaries. But Utah holds a special place, if for no other reason than all those seasons that Karl Malone and John Stockton treated these Mavericks' predecessors as the weaklings that they were.

The Mavericks go back to the place now affectionately called the "Tox Box" because the naming rights went to a company that deals in toxic waste disposal. Tonight's game is the first of three in a 66-hour window that feature salty opposition.

Utah is never a fun place to visit, and the Mavericks return to the court 23 hours later to play LeBron James and Cleveland at American Airlines Center.

On Saturday at noon, Atlanta visits, and the Hawks already have one win over the Mavericks and are solidly in the playoff chase in the Eastern Conference.

This is not a cheery sendoff to 2007.

The good news for the Mavericks is that they were playing their best basketball of the season before the four-day break, their first of more than a day in nearly five weeks.

Utah's visit to AAC on Dec. 8 actually served as a jump start to the Mavericks' season. They had a team meeting before that game, and the Mavericks have been a different team since. They won that game, 125-117, and have gone 7-1 since.

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Jerry Stackhouse (42) accused the Utah Jazz of playing "coward basketball" during a game last season.

The Jazz has lost nine of 11. And for anybody who has forgotten the bad blood of last season, here's what Stackhouse had to say after the Mavericks' last visit to Utah.

"This is just not a team you can come out and be passive against," Stackhouse said. "They're going to hold and grab. That's what they're taught to do – play a fake physical game. We're a team that can play any style. I don't care much for them. They probably don't care much for me. That's why it's always good to get a win here, because it's hard to do."

It will be an interesting return for Stackhouse, whose toughness is one of the Mavericks' best assets but is something that opponents often loathe.

Down on the farm: Rookie forward Nick Fazekas and second-year guard Moe Ager are experiencing some success at the D-League level.

Fazekas has started nine of 10 games for the Tulsa 66ers and is averaging 13.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 28.5 minutes per game. He's hitting 49.6 percent of his shots.

Ager has been at the Mavericks' Development League affiliate for three games and has averaged 21.7 points for the 66ers. He's done little to complement his scoring, however, averaging just 1.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

"They're working hard, one game at a time and one practice at a time," Johnson said. "We hope this experience can help them get better when they come back to us. Right now, both of those guys need minutes."

One player not headed to the D-League is J.J. Barea, who has been inactive for the last eight games.

"Right now, he'll keep practicing with the team because he's our third point guard, and there are times in practice when we need him here," Johnson said. "It's been more beneficial for him to be here now. That can change one way or another. He can be back on the active roster playing some minutes or not."

Johnson added that the 12 active members the last few games represent his preferred roster.