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TAYLORSVILLE, Utah -- Shelden Williams held a bag of ice to his busted-up lip. Al Horford hobbled out on a still-sore ankle. Acie Law IV, too, had taken some lumps in the late going.

The beat-up Atlanta Hawks had just dropped their Rocky Mountain Revue summer-league game 88-86 in overtime to the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, and usual assistant coach Larry Drew -- head coach of the fowl crew in July -- seemingly could not have been happier.

Save, that is, for the fact Atlanta blew a late seven-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost.

"Tremendous progress," Drew said of the steps made over five games by a now 2-3 Revue club featuring two 2007 lottery picks -- Horford and Law -- and the No. 5 overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft -- Williams.

"It's these kind of situations," he added, "that I really like to see our young guys get into during the summer league … just to see how they react, see if the response you think they will have is what you [get]. It was."

So besides new uniforms, new colors and a new logo in Atlanta these days, there also is cause for newfound optimism down Georgia way.

The youthful trio is one reason.

Horford, selected third overall after winning consecutive NCAA championships at the University of Florida, showed some toughness Thursday by pushing through ankle pain that caused him to miss two earlier Revue games. He finished with seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

"He's starting to see what we want from him," Drew said.

So is Law, the point-of-the-future who was nabbed at No. 11 out of Texas A&M, led the way against Utah with a game-high 21 points and six assists in 31 minutes.

"He's starting to understand what we want from him as a point guard," Drew said. "You know, in college he was more of a scorer. Here we look for him to think about getting our guys the ball first, and then looking for his opportunity last. In these first five games we've played I think he's done a good job of controlling our team for us. He's made some mistakes, but that's all part of the growth process."

Also growing up big-time is Williams, who came into the night averaging a team-high 18.5 points and team-high 8.3 rebounds per game. He struggled to make shots against the Jazz, hitting just 3-of-9 from the field while scoring nine points, but he did pull down 14 rebounds in 35 minutes.

The most-telling sign of his progress, Drew suggested, comes in the form of a new approach.

"The thing he understands now," the Hawks assistant said, "is that he has to be kind of a blue-collar worker, and thus far he's done that."

Perhaps it's because Williams is not at all awed by the summer scene, which may have been the case of a season ago.

"I came here already knowing what to expect,'' the Duke product said while dabbing at his lip. "I'm not coming in wide-eyed like I did last year. I'm not tip-toeing around. I know what's really going on."

And he likes it, even if the path to winning ways in Atlanta is paved with some sore spots here and there.

WHO'S HOT: Jazz sophomore-to-be Paul Millsap boosted his bid for Revue MVP honors with a sizzling 20-point performance on 6-of-10 field shooting against Atlanta.

Millsap, Utah's backup power forward during the regular season, merely hit an uncharacteristic 3-pointer (he made all of one as a rookie, and attempted just three), provided the first basket of overtime and scored the game-wining bucket by taking a rather amazing step to the lane from behind the basket with just 1.4 seconds remaining in the extra session.

Millsap came into the night averaging a team-high 16.5 points per game and shooting 61 percent (25-of-41) from the field.

Jazz rookie Morris Almond had another solid showing as well, finishing with 18 points and making 7-of-14 from the field.

In Thursday's opening game, Nick Fazekas -- a 2007 high second-round selection from the University of Nevada -- put on quite a show for Dallas in the Mavericks' 115-103 win over San Antonio.

The three-time Western Athletic Conference player of the year scored a game-high 23 points -- topping six Mavericks in double-figures -- and made 10-of-12 from the field. Fazekas also had seven rebounds in 30 minutes.

But he wasn't the only Mav who was hot: Roster-regular Maurice Ager had 21 points and shot 8-for-12, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range; Pops Mensah-Bonsu boosted his roster bid by scoring 15 points (7-for-12) and grabbing six boards in just 21 minutes; and point guard Jose Juan Barea, hoping to stick, scored 17 while dishing six assists.

In the same game, Spurs forward James White aided his efforts to stay on the roster beyond Aug. 1 and earn $100,000 in guaranteed salary by scoring 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. White, however, had just one rebound in 31 minutes.

In the Revue's middle game Thursday, Seattle center Johan Petro posted a 20-point, 14-rebound double-double and fellow big man Mouhamed Sene score 15 on 7-of-12 field shooting as the Sonics -- sans No. 2 overall draft choice Kevin Durant, who is taking part in this weekend's USA Basketball minicamp at Las Vegas -- beat Chicago 96-89. Jeff Green, Seattle's other 2007 lottery pick, topped all scorers with 22 points while University of Missouri product Thomas Gardner, who played last season in Belgium, led the Bulls with 21.

NOTES

An ankle is sprained, a hamstring strained. Moving hurts. So every time he turns, someone's giving Utah swingman Ronnie Brewer advice -- including his father, Ron Brewer, who worked in the NBA and knows the perils of playing injured, and teammate Carlos Boozer, who realizes the dangers of trying to return before it's time.

"All [the elder Brewer] has been telling me is that you've got to heal," Ronnie Brewer said. "As bad as I want to be out there and play -- and he knows I want to be out there and play -- you can't rush it. He just told me to be patient.

"[Boozer] said he had a similar situation where he came back a little too early, and instead of pulling it he ended up tearing [his hamstring]," Brewer, who missed his fourth consecutive Revue game Thursday, added with reference to the 2006-07 season Jazz scoring leader who missed 49 games in the '05-06 season because of a bad hammy. "He [Boozer] said, 'Summer league is important, but … the [regular] season is a little more important."

Still, Brewer knows he's losing out on a chance claim minutes at shooting guard that opened up when veteran Derek Fisher left Utah for the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It's tough," Brewer said, "because I know … the coaches want to see my progress."

• Four Revue players are among a collection of D-League All-Stars leaving soon for China, where the 10-member team will take part in the third annual Stankovic Cup.

The four, all free agents: Kevin Lyde, who has played parts of four of the last five seasons in the D-League and is with the Jazz's summer team; Pooh Jeter, who's with San Antonio's Revue team; Terrance Thomas, playing this month for Atlanta; and Clay Tucker, who is with Dallas for the Revue.

Also scheduled to make the trip is last season's D-League MVP, veteran NBA point guard Randy Livingston, who is unsigned but played earlier this month for Milwaukee's entry in the NBA Summer League at Las Vegas.

The D-Leaguers are scheduled for five games in six days beginning July 28. Also in the round-robin event: Angola, New Zealand, Slovenia, Venezuela and the national team of host China. The Cup tourney honors Borislav Stankovic, FIBA's secretary general emeritus.

• X-rays taken earlier this week on his sore ankle were negative, but Philadelphia center Jason Smith -- a 2007 first-rounder from Colorado -- won't play in the 76ers' summer finale against Atlanta on Friday. The 7-footer looked solid while averaging 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in four Revue games.

• After shooting just 2-for-14 from the field in two Revue games, Chicago swingman Thabo Sefolosha -- a 2006 lottery pick -- left Utah and returned to Europe to compete internationally for his native Switzerland.

• Jazz unrestricted free-agent center Rafael Araujo missed a second straight Revue game Thursday due to tendinitis in his groin. A flustered Araujo suggested he probably won't play when Utah closes the summer league Friday night against Chicago.

Tim Buckley covers the Utah Jazz for the Deseret Morning News.