"I was trying to force the action," Fisher added, "as opposed to allowing it come to me and come to our team."

As for Williams, he hopes to return when the Jazz play at Denver on Friday night.

"I'll be back next game. Well, I hope so. I want to play next game," he said. "I've just got to see how it feels in the next couple days, and hopefully it will be better."

Williams said he downplayed the injury Friday because, "I didn't know what it was, so I didn't want to say nothing." He suggested he has no regrets over the fact the injury occurred in what amounts to an exhibition.

"If you saw me playing, you know I wasn't messin' around," Williams said "I was playing serious, I was playing hard. I think that's when you get hurt when you don't play (hard)."

Sloan, meanwhile, doesn't think the Jazz toiled nearly hard enough Tuesday.

"Our defense was somewhat like the All-Star Game," he said. "We stood out there and watched guys drive by us. ... I guess that's the way it's supposed to be played. That's where all the entertainment is."

MISC.: Usual starting power forward Carlos Boozer, the Jazz's top scorer and rebounder, missed his eighth straight game to a hairline fibula fracture. He says he's getting better, and is listed as "day-to-day," but it remains to be seen when he'll actually return. ... Jazz rookie Paul Millsap briefly left Tuesday's game because the nail on his left thumb was bent backward, but he returned for the second half. ... Okur's 25 points were a team high; Fisher finished with 20 points, 10 assists and three turnovers. ... A late-game delay-of-game foul was called on Portland's Travis Outlaw because he checked into the game with his shirt untucked. Outlaw also was called for a technical for hanging on the rim after a dunk.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com