Not 100 percent, but Mavericks’ Deron Williams back in old form

Even though he was on the inside looking in, not even Deron Williams could give a firm prognosis on his immediate future with the Dallas Mavericks.

Williams had missed eight straight games with a sports hernia and had no idea when he was going to play again. And it appeared as though the Mavericks’ starting point guard was on the verge of missing more games before he returned for Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Clippers.

To complicate matters, while Williams was out, the Mavericks posted an impressive 6-2 run to firm up their playoff standing. Then, Williams started feeling a sense of uncertainty, especially because the Mavericks were more efficient with backup J.J. Barea at the controls.

“I was in kind of a good rhythm when I had to go sit out and rest a little bit, so that was frustrating,” Williams said. “And then the team started winning, and so doubt start creeping in your mind that maybe they’re better off without you. As a player when you’re sitting out, those things tend to happen.”

“I knew once I saw J.J. go down, I don’t think they were planning on playing me,” Williams said. “But I came to [head athletic trainer] Casey [Smith] and was like, ‘Let me at least try it out.’ So I tried it at practice that day and I felt pretty good. I still feel all right. It’s not 100 percent, but I feel pretty good.”

Williams felt so good that he went out and scored 23 points in 37 minutes during Monday’s 102-93 victory over Utah that clinched a playoff berth for Dallas. The performance came while Utah fans booed every time he touched the ball because they’re still angry about his acrimonious departure from the Jazz in 2011 after five-plus years there.

“Deron Williams coming back in here and having to put up with all this booing and nonsense, I thought was just fabulous the way he approached the game,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He was focused, he was determined, and he showed what a great player he is because you come into this place in this kind of environment with this kind of a meaningful game and play the kind of game that he did coming off of being really down for two weeks, that’s big-time.”

“We’re still going to try to win out,” Williams said. “We still can have some help from Memphis and win out and move up to the sixth seed. Any team wants to be the highest seed as possible, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Particularly now that Williams is back at his customary point guard position.