"The question was put to him Monday night, in the aftermath of the Nets' final home game, by someone who felt the time was right to test Terrence Williams' memory.

Did he ever think that these last few weeks were possible when he was running the steps at Chicago's United Center on Dec. 8 as punishment for sleeping through the bus for shootaround?

"At that point, what was going through my mind was, 'Don't fall,' " the Nets rookie wing said, reaching more for humor than metaphor. "But I saw with the NBA, especially with the regular season, it's up and down. If you continue to play and keep your head up - and I definitely did - it all works out fine.""