"I just saw it. I saw it happen," Williams said. "When I started to roll it, I looked down and I saw it go all the way out and then it popped and then it popped back in. I thought something slid out or I broke something. I had no clue."
Instead of dislocating his ankle, Williams escaped with a second-degree sprain. The Jazz have ruled him out for at least two weeks, but Williams said he was holding out hope he could still play in Wednesday's regular-season opener against Denver.
"I'm not going to rule it out," said Williams, who has missed only four games in his three-year career, "but Doc [team doctor Lyle Mason] says it's not looking too good for opening night, just the way it looks right now."
Williams was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, Pittsburgh Steelers logo earphones and a large black walking boot Wednesday as he made his first public comments since the injury. He is off crutches but still can't put any weight on the ankle.
He has been treating his ankle twice daily and icing it "every day, all day" at home. Whatever relief Williams took from not suffering a more serious injury - "The first thought was I was going to miss the whole season" - seemed eclipsed by his frustration at potentially missing games.
"I'm never happy to be out," Williams said. "I don't like missing games, so I'm just going to try to get back as soon as possible. They put that timetable, but if I can get back before that, I'm definitely going to do everything in my power to try."
Asked about trying to avoid rushing back with so much of the season to play, Williams said: "It's a sprained ankle. It's not like it's going to do any damage further."
He added that he would return when he felt like he could play again. "You're never going to know till you get out there and you cut and you move like you would in a game. I'm sure I'm going to have to practice before I know anything," Williams said.
Having watched a replay of the play that injured him, Williams said he thought Rose didn't deliberately stick his foot under him. "He was completely turned around, so he didn't know," Williams said. "It wasn't on purpose."
If he is out two weeks, Williams would miss at least two games and possibly more. He expressed confidence in Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight filling the void.
Williams said Price "knows what he has to do, he knows his game, he knows what coach expects."
"Him and Brevin are going to do a great job if I'm not able to play," Williams added. "I'm not worried about it in the least way. I think that they're more than capable of running a team and it'll be a good experience for them." Although he'd sprained both ankles multiple times before, Williams said he'd never experienced swelling like this one. He joked about the "pretty looking colors" his ankle has turned and said most of the swelling had worked its way out of the ankle and down to his foot.
