DALLAS -- Kings point guard Jason Williams hadn't even gotten onto the court when the harassment from the Reunion Arena Rowdies began. "Williams," said one particularly effective heckler, "you can't hoop! Give it up." Williams, who was walking to the adhesive mat at center court designed to help players' traction on the floor, took about four steps before turning around to talk to the fan.
"You're here to see me," he said with a big smile on his face. "And your son wants to be me."
Whether those things are true still is to be determined, but Williams, like most of his teammates, sure played well Monday.
He made 6 of 13 field-goal attempts and made most of his impact from long range by sticking 5 of 9 three-point attempts. Williams made 3 of 4 from beyond the arc when the Kings took control of the game by going 6 of 9 on three-point launches.
Williams scored all of his 19 points during the first three periods.
Said Kings coach Rick Adelman of Williams, who also had five assists and just one turnover in 39 minutes: "He had guys at his mercy after making those threes because they were just running at him. I think the more he mixes it up a little bit and keeps attacking the other point guard, the better off he's going to be. We are so much better off offensively when he's doing that because we don't have a lot of guys who can take a guy off the dribble, and he's the main one."
