Deron Williams
Deron Williams
Deron Michael Williamsis an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the University of Illinois before being drafted third overall in the 2005 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. The three-time NBA All-Star has also played for Beşiktaş of the Turkish Basketball League, and was a gold medal winner on the United States national team at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth26 June 1984
CityParkersburg, WV
CountryUnited States of America
It's kind of sad. I wish we could have played like that in the first half, but that's the way the game goes sometimes. San Antonio kind of did anything they wanted in the first half.
It's frustrating, knowing that we are right there. It's just frustrating. But we're still not out of it.
It's fun to come back, see these guys, see your teammates, your coaches, and just be back in Champaign.
There were really a lot of things we didn't do well. We didn't rebound well, they out hustled us. They wanted the game more than us.
That's something we struggled with at the beginning of the season. We turn up our defense, and we execute. That's the reason we were losing games early on. We weren't doing things that got us to that point.
We're still in it. We haven't been eliminated yet. We've just got to keep fighting.
We're just trying to stay alive. We're going to play 'til they tell us we can't play anymore.
I just tried to go out there and contain him, ... It was my job today -- it was my job the last two games -- to shut down the other team's best perimeter player. I just took that as a challenge.
I just tried to stay in front of him and not foul. I just tried to put my hands up and hopefully they didn't call a foul.
C.J. played great tonight. He made the most of his opportunity. He got out there for a good amount of time and made the most of it. I think he showed he can be a special player down the line.
I don't know if we got tired or what. We just turned it off. We had a pretty substantial lead and just rotted away.
We've just got to get some wins. We're still alive in this thing, the season's not over. We've still got a chance, whether it's a slim chance or not. If we keep winning and some teams lose, we're right there.
We're trying to make the playoffs, that's our goal. We think we can do it. It's not like we're six or seven games out.
We needed a win bad and we're trying to stay in the race for the playoffs. We just wanted to get back rolling.