Congratulations are in order for whomever had 17 seconds in the “How quickly will Jay Williams make an impact?” pool.
That’s how long it took after tipoff for Williams, leading a fast break, to thread a no-look bounce pass through traffic and into Eddy Curry’s hands for a layup Sunday at Salt Lake Community College.
There were other such highlights in a dominant first half for Williams and the Bulls, including a fast-break layup for his first basket with just under four minutes gone and a long bounce pass that drew a look of admiration from Brian Skinner, who was sitting in the stands with coach Bill Cartwright on a free-agent visit.
But given that Williams judges his performances by victories and losses, mark his professional debut a dud. The Bulls blew a 16-point first-half lead and fell to Phoenix 81-72 to even their summer-league mark after two games.
Williams finished with 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting, two assists and four turnovers while playing 28 of 40 minutes.
Wary of the hip flexor and sore groin that sidelined Williams for the first game, the Bulls had their first-round pick on a minute count.
“I just couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Williams said. “I can play better. I couldn’t shoot a jump shot. I can’t believe I hit one against the backboard. That’s horrible.”
So was the Bulls’ interior defense as Phoenix, led by Milt Palacio’s 20 points, came roaring back. Curry and Tyson Chandler each had three fouls in the game’s first 5 minutes 50 seconds and eventually received technical fouls.
Phoenix took its first lead with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Amare Stoudemire, the Suns’ first-round pick out of high school, threw down an impressive reverse dunk. Stoudemire finished with 19 points.
Williams supplied the fuel for a high-octane performance in the first half, when the Bulls shot 60 percent. Curry, who finished with 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and Jamal Crawford benefited from Williams’ ability to push the ball up the court.
Crawford finished with 17 points but hit just 2-of-8 shots in the second half after a 5-for-7 first half as the Bulls scored 22 points and shot 33 percent.
“In the second half, we didn’t run as much,” Williams said. “We slowed it down and ran a lot more triangle. The triangle is good, but not when you don’t run it right.”
As for Skinner, the Bulls briefly held his rights last summer after acquiring him from the Clippers in the draft-day trade of Elton Brand. But Skinner got sent to Toronto in the Charles Oakley trade and finished the season in Cleveland, where he averaged 3.4 points and 4.3 rebounds in 65 games.
Layups: Second-round pick Roger Mason Jr. missed his second straight game with a sprained right shoulder. … Tex Winter, the former Bulls and current Lakers assistant who recently turned 80, is here scouting. Winter said Lakers coach Phil Jackson told him to wait until Labor Day to decide if he’s retiring.
