Utah Jazz: Williams sparks Utah's pivotal third-period spurt
Jazz point guard's 3-point shooting critical in clincher
The 28 points in a half are a Jazz-opponent playoff record. Michael Jordan didn't do it.
Utah point guard Deron Williams — or is it (De-RONN?) was reasonably silent through that first half with seven points and four assists.
Williams, however, took it upon himself to boost the Jazz lead back to 20 by the end of the third quarter in Utah's series-winning 113-91 victory in Game 6 of the first-round NBA playoffs in a packed and loud EnergySolutions Arena as the Jazz's offense finally came alive against the league's second-best defensive team.
"Yeah, I felt we let a big lead slip away," Williams said. "We had games all series where we had 14-point leads, 15-point leads, and they'd come back, and the same thing tonight.
"It was a little frustrating, and I wanted to try to open the game back up, and I just got hot, my shot started feeling good, so I just let it go."
Williams went to the record book himself in the third quarter with four 3-pointers to tie the franchise mark for most threes in a period — and also tie the record for threes by one Jazzman in a half. In the period, he made 4-of-5 threes and missed his only two twos.
Kyle Korver is a man know for his threes, and he could appreciate what Williams did. "They were all so worried about him driving past them, and he just rose up and shot the ball, and he just got hot.
"He doesn't shoot many threes because of our style of game and our offense, but he's a very capable shooter, and when he gets hot like that, you've got to get up in him. But then when you get up in him, he just uses his strength and his speed and can go past you. When he gets going, he's just really, really hard to guard."
Williams' 13 third-quarter points were more than Houston scored in the quarter as McGrady was silent, and Bobby Jackson was Houston's leading scorer with one 3-pointer. Williams also added two rebounds.
Williams opened that impressive period with an assist to Carlos Boozer and then hit a three from the right angle from Mehmet Okur to push Utah to a 63-56 lead, perhaps deflating the Rockets a bit after their big comeback to end the first half.
Williams then missed a layin, but after five Okur points, he hit another right-angle three at 8:10, then one at 5:22 and another at 4:35 as Utah slid the lead up to 77-59.
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