Utah Jazz notes: In Houston, Price counting on friendly fans

Ronnie Price's grandmother gave birth to 21 children and raised several foster kids, too.

"She just loves kids," said Price, who has big families on both his father's and his mother's sides, most of them growing up within a few blocks of each other in Hitchcock, Texas, just down the interstate from Friendswood, the town the backup Utah Jazz point guard calls home.

Both cities are just a ways south of Houston, and Price grew up a Rockets fan, but his big family should provide some Jazz-friendly folk as Utah and Houston square off in the Toyota Center Saturday and Monday nights in the first two of the best-of-seven NBA first-round playoff series.

Price said he didn't know how many family members will be in attendance, "I don't even know how many I have," he said. "I'm pretty sure a lot of people will buy their own tickets, but if I need to get some, I wouldn't have a problem doing it. It will be fun to see them."

The third-year player has only played in Houston in front of his family once, in January when the Jazz won there. "It will be a good chance to play in front of my family. They haven't had a chance to watch me play in person a lot this year, so I'm pretty excited about that," he said. In two years with Sacramento, he didn't get into any games in Houston.

He's been playing just under 10 minutes a game as Deron Williams' backup, and despite getting 25 minutes Wednesday because Williams didn't play in the second half due to a tailbone bruised last Saturday against Denver, Price doesn't anticipate seeing more minutes.

"Deron's fine. He'll be all right," Price said Thursday.

Jazz trainer Gary Briggs said the same through a team spokesman, and Williams is not listed as "probable"or "day-to-day"or any such iffy thing. He's expected to play.

"It's sore. It's sore. Get some more treatment,"was all Williams said Thursday.

"I think he's fine,"said Price. "I don't really know the details of his injury or the details of what was wrong, but he seemed really OK today, and I know Deron is a competitor, and he's not going to miss any games, especially in the playoffs. He's not going to miss this game."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan also expects Williams to play. "I'm sure he'll probably be ready to play. He has a chance to kind of get some of the soreness out (with Thursday and Friday between games), but if not, we have to play anyway."

Price said his first thought after Utah lost badly at San Antonio Wednesday to conclude the regular season and lose homecourt advantage for the first playoff round was, "That we've got to get ready to play. "

Getting to go home to Houston and play, "That was probably my second thought. But my first thought was like, well, we don't have homecourt advantage, so we've got to get ready to play these first two games on the road against a team that is scary."

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