Bruce Bowen's 3-pointer gave the Spurs a 55-44 lead, their largest of the night, early in the third quarter and momentarily quieted the crowd. The building rocked back to life when Carlos Boozer elevated to block a Duncan attempt at the rim, and the cheers grew louder as Utah got baskets from Williams and Gordan Giricek to pull within a point, 61-60.

San Antonio's championship mettle then became apparent. Utah got within a point three more times over the next few minutes, but failed again and again to score a momentum-turning basket.

A 3-pointer by Ginobili made it a 70-66 game, and the Spurs began to pull away. Williams had a turnover and missed a 22-footer. After the teams traded baskets, Duncan hit a pair of free throws and Parker a driving layup, and the lead was eight points. Duncan and Ginobili repeatedly went to the line in the next few minutes as the Spurs pushed the lead back to double digits.

A stomach virus had kept Williams out of Sunday's practice and Monday's morning shoot-around. Neither the virus nor the Spurs seemed to have any impact once the game started.

Williams blocked an early jumper by Parker and scored his first points, on an 8-foot runner, moments later. He reached halftime with a game-high 18 points, having made 7 of 11 field goals. But San Antonio had the lead, 50-42.

The Spurs took control in the second quarter, as Parker, Finley and Duncan got rolling. San Antonio repelled every surge. When the Jazz cut an eight-point deficit to two, the Spurs answered with an 11-4 burst. When Utah tried to close the gap in the final minutes of the first half, Finley hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner to extend the lead to nine points. The thought of Williams, the Jazz point guard, playing at anything less than 100 percent sent a shudder through the city. Williams, a rapidly rising star who has made his name in this postseason, is the Jazz's tempo-setter and its best clutch shooter.

Ninety minutes before tipoff, Sloan was still unsure of Williams' status, though he had a good sense of humor about the situation.

"We played against some guys over the years that were sick and killed us," Sloan said, "so I hope that works to our side this time." As if he needed to clarify, Sloan added, "Remember Michael Jordan?"