Utah Jazz: D-Will plans to pull the Jazz along

He was a tad moody, even mad, after back-to-back losses Monday to Houston and Tuesday at Dallas.

Rightfully so.

Deron Williams, after all, cares.

And, besides, there's not much worse than a Texas triangle of defeats for someone reared in the Lone Star State.

It's with that understanding that the Jazz point guard went into Thursday night's TNT-televised win over San Antonio with a mind for making something happen, and a will to get it done.

"We needed to get off to a good start and sustain that," Williams said, "so I wanted to be aggressive, push the ball up the court, make sure we got some easy baskets."

That he did, and it made a difference.

After Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko both missed jumpers in Thursday's first minutes against the Spurs, Williams went to work, taking matters in his own hands.

He drove for one layup, drove for another, then blocked Spurs point Tony Parker on the other end to get the Jazz headed in the right direction.

"I noticed it," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the assertiveness exhibited by Williams, who went on to match teammate Carlos Boozer for game-high scoring honors with 27 points and finished one assist and three rebounds shy of what would have been his first career triple-double.

"I thought he pushed the ball up the floor a lot harder. We didn't walk the ball up. We got in the open court a lot more, because . . . we were pretty good defensively at times. We got our hands on the ball."

And in Sloan's book, one good hand leads to another.

"When every possession has to be after a made (opponent) basket, then you don't get much," he said. "That's where you get killed.

"We had that in Dallas: They (the Mavericks) were getting layups and getting to the free-throw line, and we were getting jump shots out on the perimeter," the Jazz coach added. "When you (can't) make any stops, and you don't get the ball, then you don't have the opportunity to get in the open floor and use your skills."

Williams' talents will be on display again tonight, when the 2-3 Jazz play host to 1-4 Sacramento at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz point guard plans to play despite his body being so banged up Thursday night that he didn't practice Friday morning.

Williams bruised his left shin when he got kicked — not the first time that's happened to him over the last several weeks — in the first quarter of Thursday night's home win over San Antonio.

He later landed hard on his left hip in the fourth quarter, first getting clipped on a screen by Spurs big man Tim Duncan and subsequently getting tangled with Parker.