He also came into Game 3 having averaged 30 points in the Jazz's two losses to the Spurs, including a career-high 34 points in Game 1.

Saturday, though, was different.

Saturday, Williams put it all together.

He scored, putting up a game-high 31. He made shots, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. He dished, delivering a game-high eight assists. He defended, using just the right amount of help from teammates to thwart Parker. And, most importantly, he saw to it that Utah won.

"He has played some great basketball for us," Sloan said Sunday. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this position today."

A little nudging from Sloan, who humbled Williams by not handing him a starting job for his entire rookie season, didn't hurt.

"John Stockton sat on the bench for two-and-a-half years, and that's where (young players) should be in most cases," the Jazz coach said.

It really did take the Jazz's Stockton, who retired as the NBA's all-time steals and assists leader, a while to unseat one Rickey Green.

In Williams' case, though, Sloan soon knew what he had on his hands.

"He came in here and struggled a little bit last year, but he got better," the Jazz coach said. "I thought he was very good at the end of the year. This year starting off, he came out and played very well."

Williams' motivation indeed may have come from the way he was handled as a rookie, when the lottery pick started just 47 of 80 games — frequently backing up journeyman Keith McLeod.

"Last year Coach made him work a little bit to get that starting spot, and then over the summer he came back a different guy," Boozer said. "He had confidence from day 1 in training camp, way, way back in October.

"He was more fit, his mind was fresh, he was pumped up to play basketball. He carried that throughout the regular season, and in the postseason he's been even better."

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Rookie Dee Brown, Williams' teammate not just this season but also at Illinois, has watched the rise toward the throne of NBA points even longer than that.

"His attitude, it is all about the confidence and the swagger," Brown said Sunday. "I think he is one of the best of the point guards in the NBA. I can say that because of the way he plays ... everything he does out there for the team.

"He only wants to compete against — I don't want to say destroy, but outplay — (opponents)," Brown added. "That right there, a lot of guys don't have that every night."

It perhaps manifested it most Saturday night, when Williams played as if was trying to one-up Parker — yet did so in the context of salvaging hope in the series for the Jazz.