Nets' Hollins says Deron Williams playing through injuries to 'fingers, knees, butt'

Deron Williams should have a sore butt more often.

Playing through myriad injuries, as has become his lot in life over the past four seasons, Williams had his best game in years on Monday. His 35-point outburst helped lift the Brooklyn Nets to an overtime victory, tying their opening-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks at two games apiece.

It was enough that critical former teammate Paul Pierce even showed respect.

It's well known that Williams has been dealing with a knee issue, one teammate Joe Johnson recently revealed to be severe tendinitis. Head coach Lionel Hollins provided further information ahead of Wednesday's Game 5 battle, saying Williams is also dealing with a finger injury and another ailment that may be the result of an apparent thigh bruise from Game 3:

Williams is going to continue to play, but Nets fans probably shouldn't expect a repeat of his Game 4 performance. The former No. 3 overall pick averaged just 13 points and 6.6 assists on 38.7 percent shooting this season. And even after his big game, he's only averaging 13.3 points and 5.8 assists on 39.2 percent shooting in the series.

Another player Nets fans shouldn't expect much from is Mirza Teletovic.

Teletovic unexpectedly returned for Game 2, three months ahead of schedule from an absence due to blood clots in his lungs. He played sparingly in Games 2 and 3 and was a DNP-CD for Game 4, with Hollins admitting Wednesday that it's hard to get Teletovic back into the flow given how much time he's missed.