Amid swirling trade rumors and whispers of age finally catching up to Jazz star Karl Malone, the Mailman remained relatively quiet, letting his play on the court do his talking.

And in the past week, he has made his most definitive statement of the season, averaging 30 points on 51 percent shooting as the Jazz won three straight games.

""That"s happened so many, many times," coach Jerry Sloan said. ""It"s not coaching or anything else, it"s just his desire to want to step up and take the good and bad."

Both Malone and the Jazz had struggled out of the gate, fueling speculation this was a lottery-bound team ready to shake things up.

Through the first four weeks of the season, the Jazz were giving up more points than any team in the NBA, and they were never able to muster even a two-game winning streak.