Deron Williams has fun despite West losing All-Star Game

ARLINGTON, Texas — He didn't start, but he did finish.

Just couldn't quite close like he wanted to, though, which made the first NBA All-Star Game for Jazz point guard Deron Williams something of a mixed-emotion experience.

Still, participation ultimately seemed to trump outcome — the Eastern Conference beat Williams and the Western Conference 141-139 Sunday night in front of a world-record basketball crowd of 108,713 at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium here — for the 25-year-old reared in a nearby suburb called The Colony.

"It's fun, man," a smiling Williams said afterward. "This is what it's supposed to be about — putting on a show, having fun out there. It's a great first All-Star Game for me."

Williams, also gold medal winner for Team USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics, scored 16 points and shot 6-of-11 from the field while dishing six assists in 28 minutes.

He could have wound up with as many as 10 assists if it weren't for first-half misses by Pau Gasol, Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups and Zach Randolph.

Williams let a few of his own chances, however, slip away in the second half.

Though veteran Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns started at the point for the West, it was Williams running the point and Denver Nuggets guard Billups beside him down the stretch.

Billups tied the game at 137 on a 19-foot jumper with one minute and five seconds remaining, and it was the same score when the West had a chance to take the lead with less than 20 seconds to go.

Williams started the possession with a pass to Billups, who passed right back.

The Jazz point seemed to think about shooting form the left side, but hesitated — torn between going for the win himself, or deferring to any one of four All-Star teammates — before driving to the basket and having the ball taken away from him game MVP and 28-point scorer Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.

"I thought I got fouled," Williams said.

Wade raced to the other end, and Williams bizarrely fouled him — he later got grief from "everybody," he said — even though just 12.7 seconds remained and the game still was tied.

He explained the blunder later.

"For some reason I thought we were down one," Williams said, "so I went back and fouled.

"I don't know why."

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki answered Wade's two free throws to tie the game at 139 with 7.7 seconds to go, leaving Williams and the West one last shot.

Denver's Carmelo Anthony took it from 3-point range and missed, leaving Williams to cherish the memories even if they are of a close loss.

 "I had fun the whole weekend, enjoyed the festivities, giving back to the community," said Williams, who squeezed in some community service work between family visits and a multiple of NBA and corporate-sponsor obligations. "To play at home in front of all my friends and family was great.

"This (playing an All-Star in his hometown area) is a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he added. "It's a dream come true. It's something I've always wanted, and it's finally here. Hopefully I can move forward, and hopefully it's the first of many."

Once he got warmed up with a thunderous dunk and a fastbreak layup Willams briefly put on something of a one-man Valentine Day's show for both those close to heart and the masses far away in the highest reaches of the massive football stadium.

He first finished a second-quarter alley-oop initiated by Billups, then delivered one to Durant.

The Jazz point made the most of his pass from Billups, dunking over Wade, hanging on the rim a moment, swinging for fun and finally finishing with a backboard tap for extra effect.

"I told him (Wade) I think I've got him on my poster," Williams said. "He upstaged us in the end, though."