Boston ? A two-hour session with a local chiropractor Wednesday afternoon will be enough to get Deron Williams back on the court for tonight's game against the Celtics. Williams sat out the Jazz's pregame shootaround in the morning and complained that his strained back had gotten worse, but Williams reported improvement after he returned to TD Garden and went through warmups. "It's still stiff, but better," Williams said, adding: "I was probably going to play the whole time, I just like talking. You know how many games I've said I was going to sit out in my career and never did?"
The Jazz still will play without backup point guard Ronnie Price, who continues to be bothered by the sprained left big toe he suffered in the second quarter of Monday's victory over New York.
Williams said he undergoes treatment before every home game with a Jazz -affiliated chiropractor as well as on regular off days. "He should be on this trip," Williams joked, hoping that general manager Kevin O'Connor would hear his plea.
Williams added that he'd pinpointed the play on which he strained his back in Monday's game -- a foul at the end of the first half in which Chris Duhon came down on him -- and that resting in bed the past two days might have been the worst thing for his back.
"After I worked with [the chiropractor], I haven't really laid down or anything," Williams said. "I've just been moving around and stretching it. I thought resting it was the best thing for it."
Williams said after Monday's game that he wouldn't have returned in the second half had Price not gotten injured. He was asked if the same applied for the game against the Celtics.
"I was going to see how it felt anyway," Williams said. "I'm not just going to rule myself out automatically, but I have no clue."
Had Williams not been able to play, the Jazz would have started rookie Eric Maynor and been left to battle the 7-1 Celtics with only nine players. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had made contingency plans for Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer to share in ball-handling duties.
Price, meanwhile, reported little improvement in his sprained toe, though he will remain with the Jazz for the final two games of this trip.
"I can't lie," Price said. "It's still sore. It's a sensitive spot, from the edge of my foot to the corner of my foot. My shoes rub against it when I walk, so I constantly feel it."
"Hopefully, I'll wake up one of these mornings and it'll just go away," Price added.
rsiler@sltrib.com
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