Williams enjoying free rein

Deron Williams, the point guard who was a frustrated rookie spending what he thought was too much time on the bench, now has a green light from coach Jerry Sloan to make his own decisions on the court.

"Yeah, he has a lot more leeway than what I gave him probably the first year or so," said Sloan about Williams, who is entering his third season. "If he has something he feels good about it, I don't have a problem with it."

Sloan and power-forward co-captain Carlos Boozer credited Williams for dictating much of the tempo Tuesday night at Golden State. The Warriors like to push the pace like the Phoenix Suns, and the Jazz have in the past had tendencies to try to keep up.

"He kept us in our offense, and he went through a stretch where he had some opportunities for himself to score (24), and he did a great job of that," said Sloan. "He's a terrific young player, and the experiences he's had, the desire he has to want to succeed — he just kind of keeps growing with it."

"He did a good job of slowing it down when we had to," said Boozer at Wednesday's practice. "Instead of getting the ball out fast, just take a couple slower dribbles, put us in our set. That's what he did. He did a good job of speeding it up when we had to to get huge opportunities and of taking his time and putting us in the right sets to be successful."

Williams' ability to control things was apparent in the playoffs last spring and keeps evolving "That was part of our (playoff) success, but it's something he's been able to grow with," Boozer added.

LEADING: Williams and Boozer are in mid-season form. "Those guys picked up from where they left off, and we're trying to follow their lead and keep up with them," said sophomore starter Ronnie Brewer. Brewer wasn't overly happy with himself despite 18 points Tuesday. "I feel like I owe D-Will like two or three assists where he gave me wide-open shots, and I just didn't knock it down for him."

ALL OK: Trainer Gary Briggs said Wednesday that all Jazz players are eligible health-wise to play in the home opener tonight against the Houston Rockets at 7 in EnergySolutions Arena. That includes Matt Harpring, who missed the preseason recovering from knee surgery and put in his first eight minutes Tuesday, apparently without ill effects. Harpring had one point and attempted no field goals.

"Matt's still trying to find out what he's doing," Sloan said. "I mean, he hasn't played — the timing, and all that stuff, trying to run an offense, and what he does in the game. You know, he's got to move without the basketball and try to figure out where he's going to get open."