MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It may be back to the beginning for Jazz starting point guard Deron Williams, who didn't play in Friday's loss at Memphis and missed a second straight game due to his bruised and sprained right wrist.
Backup Ronnie Price, who missed practice Thursday because of tendinitis in his left shoulder, started instead.
"I don't have any strength in it right now," Williams said before the game. "I don't know if I hit it ... but it's right back to where it was."
Williams took part in the Jazz's morning shoot-around and went through some pre-game drills Friday night, but little was falling.
"I'm an erratic shooter right now," he joked.
"Even when I'm hitting my shots, it's not 'my shot,' " Williams added, turning serious. "It's kind of like I'm pushing it up there. When I actually follow through is when I have the most pain, like when I actually shoot my shot. That's why it's frustrating."
Williams was injured when he fell hard to the floor in the fourth quarter of Monday's loss to New Orleans.
It's uncertain if he'll be able to play tonight at Dallas, where he calls home.
"(I'll) see how it feels," Williams said. "Maybe."
REGRETS AND PRAISE: Sloan expressed regrets about turning the offense over for a short time in Friday's second half to rookie swingman Wesley Matthews, and not bringing back Sundiata Gaines, the rookie point guard playing on a 10-day contract.
"I probably made a mistake by not putting him back out there whenever I put the other guys (in)," he said with reference to Gaines, who played five minutes and missed his only shot in his second NBA game. "It looked like we didn't have enough desire to really want to compete when I took Ronnie Price out.
"We couldn't get anything going at the other positions," Sloan added. "A couple of plays, we ran them on the wrong side of the floor."
Sloan did, however, have high praise for Price, who scored 10 and dished a career-high 9 assists in 40 minutes.
"It's just his competitiveness that makes him get in a big hurry sometimes," he said.
"That's to be understood. But he's out there to try to win. That's what his attitude is. It's not just like, 'I'm gonna go through the motions.' He's gonna put it out there and play hard, and I can live with that."
KORVER UPDATE: Swingman Kyle Korver, still recovering from preseason arthroscopic knee surgery, played 15 minutes and scored a season-high 10.
"I'm still not there yet. I still have a ways to go," Korver said. "But it's feeling good enough that I feel like I can help out a little bit and come in and provide some energy. ... It's better than what it was last week."
"Kyle's not in the best of basketball shape," Sloan added. "I was glad to get him in the game some because he executed our offense and then caught the ball and shot it. I mean, if you're a shooter — step up there and shoot, and make it. Not just get it off."
HE SAID IT: Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, on his hard foul against Memphis point guard Mike Conley that helped the Grizzlies tie the game at 87: "I told Mike right away, 'Are you all right?' Because I'm not a dirty fouler. I don't take people's heads off. I felt like I went for the ball. I feel like my hand was on top of the ball.
"He's just a real light player, and he came down pretty hard. I didn't try to take his head off at all. I know it looked that way because he fell, but I didn't do that to him. He's just real light, and I'm real strong."
MAVS, NETS MAKE A DEAL: ESPN.com reports the Mavericks and Nets have reached a verbal agreement on a trade that will send reserve forward Kris Humphries, a former Jazz player, to the Nets and bring forward Eduardo Najera back to Dallas, which acquired him in the 2000 draft.
NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com the Nets have also agreed to use a trade exception to absorb the $2.4 million expiring contract of exiled Mavs swingman Shawn Williams to complete the deal.
Sources said the deal might not be finalized before the league office reopens Monday.
Posts
