Perhaps it"s no coincidence that about the time Bryon Russell returned from an injury the Jazz bench started to click.

Russell"s ability to play three positions and his willingness to either start or come off the bench not only gives coach Jerry Sloan plenty of flexibility, it helps get more mileage out of the other players out on the court.

""Bryon is the kind of guy that does what you ask him to do for the team," Sloan said. ""You can"t get enough of those people on your team."

Russell needed a couple games to get back in the swing of things after a 16-game layoff caused by an avulsion fracture from the pelvis, but a night after scoring a game-high 19 points against Boston, Russell scored 18 more at Portland in a performance the seemed to rally all of his teammates.