Williams welcomes challenge

Around the National Basketball Association, Bruce Bowen is regarded as one of the best defenders in the league.

When Utah's Deron Williams caught wind through the grapevine that the San Antonio role-player extraordinaire wanted the task of stopping the Jazz point guard, he got a little excited.

"I heard he wanted to be on me more," Williams said. "I definitely — I like that challenge — he's one of the best defenders in the league, so I like that challenge."

Bowen had his moments in the game, but make no doubt, it was Williams who dominated the matchup and powered the Jazz to a convincing 109-83 victory in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

The second-year guard from Illinois led all scorers with 31 points, while dishing out eight assists and keeping the Spurs off balance much of the game. He also knocked down four 3-pointers and grabbed a game-high five steals.

His offensive play already had the attention of San Antonio. Now, it seems, Williams is getting noticed around the country. With dozens of national media in town for the series, post-game press conferences were peppered with questions about how Williams has emerged, seemingly overnight to some, as one of the best point guards in the NBA.

"In my career, I haven't seen many guys in their second year have the kind of impact that he's having," Utah veteran Derek Fisher said. "You think about Deron's development from year one to year two, not just statistically what he's doing, but his composure, his poise and his decisionmaking. He's leading our team."

After a sluggish first quarter that saw Utah fall behind by as many as nine points, Williams took advantage of some foul trouble from the Spurs and opened up the throttle. Blowing past Bowen and Tony Parker, Williams scored nine points in the second quarter as the Jazz grabbed plenty of momentum going into the locker room trailing 47-43.

He turned it up another notch in the third quarter with another nine points but also helped shut the Spurs down.

"I thought he did an excellent job of taking a shot when it was there, and he also did an excellent job of finding people," San Antonio's Tim Duncan said. "When he was passing the ball, he was attacking the rim real hard. ... He caught us with our heads turned a couple of times where he went right down the middle and laid it up.

"All in all, I just thought he did an excellent job."

Williams knows the Spurs will up the ante again — as evidenced by the message-sending shot to the back and neck by Spurs scrub Matt Bonner late in the game after Williams swished a 3-pointer — but he welcomes the physical play.

"I like the physical play, you know," Williams said. "I don't shy away from it, so it is definitely challenging and fun to go up against (Bowen.)"

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