Same Position but Different Jobs for Two Point Guards NEWARK - Chris Paul and Deron Williams each gave his team a chance to win Wednesday night. While the 101-100 victory was nice for the Nets, the game was a microcosm of two superstar point guards in vastly different situations. Paul gave the Clippers a 100-98 lead after being fouled by Shelden Williams on a pick-and-roll switch more than 35 feet from the basket. The foul was a gift; 2 points wrapped in red ribbon. The Clippers had fought back from 18 points down, and Paul had managed 22 points on only 11 field goal attempts. Even though he committed five costly first-half turnovers, much of his game was a tribute to the freedom of choice and the use of floor space. Paul took shots when he had ample room and created for teammates by maneuvering through the finest seams of the Nets" defense. After Paul's free throws, Williams had to survive heavy pressure, which resulted in the Clippers kicking the ball out of bounds. Paul, free to roam, had the space and license to attempt to steal the ball and the game from the constantly swarmed Williams. The Nets set up again and when Paul shaded toward Williams with the seconds ticking away, Williams found Jordan Farmar with a bounce pass. Farmar sank a game-winning 3-pointer and Prudential Center erupted. "D-Will draws a lot of attention," Farmar said in an on-court interview. Williams and Paul have long been linked. They were drafted third and fourth in the 2005 N.B.A. draft. They have spent most of their careers dominating the Western Conference. They both received tutelage from Jason Kidd during the 2008 Olympics. And as recently as a few years ago, fans and pundits entrenched the two in a point-counterpoint debate centered around which one of them was N.B.A."s best point guard. Once inseparable in public discourse, their reigning duality over the point guard position has given way to a bounty of accolade-worthy floor generals, including last season's most valuable player, Derrick Rose. Williams and Paul still sit at or near the top of their profession, but now Paul has what Williams wants: talented, aerially-inclined teammates. As Williams waits to see whether the trade deadline will bring Dwight Howard to New Jersey and then Brooklyn, Paul continues to acclimate to Los Angeles, having been dealt to the Clippers before the season after the league nixed a trade that would have sent Paul to the Lakers. The situations Paul and Williams find themselves in call for different styles. With high fliers at his disposal and an ability to control the game by patiently maintaining his dribble and reading the defense, Paul is playing chess. Paul did not shoot until sinking a long 3-pointer with 4 minutes 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter against the Nets. Left to his lonesome as the sand in the trade deadline hourglass falls, Williams is playing checkers, trying to king himself - as he did against the Bobcats by scoring 57 points - or his teammates, who often need him to spoon-feed them in their shooting spots. "Obviously, we need Deron to do more for us than what Paul needs to do for them because, you know, of our injury situation," Nets Coach Avery Johnson said. "I think them, they look for D-Will to come down and create every time down," Paul said of the Nets. And here, I'm trying to create and make sure everybody gets their touches. Asked after the game why he was consistently barking at various teammates during the game, Williams alluded to their need to know where to be when he was double-teamed. Paul extolled the virtues of the Nets" outside shooters after the game, with reason. Williams is averaging a career low 2.6 assists per game on plays finished at the rim, underscoring the Nets" lack of competent inside scoring, while his assists on 3-pointers are currently a season high, according to Hoopdata.com. Paul can relate to what Williams is going through, as he marshaled the Hornets last season after David West tore his anterior cruciate ligament. In last season's first-round matchup against the Lakers, Paul led a wholly unremarkable group of teammates somewhat similar to what Williams works with now. No Hornet that started next to Paul in the series against the Lakers averaged over 12 points a game in 2010-11. So, in a sense, Paul - with Lob City inspiring T-shirts and Lob Angeles on the cover of magazines - has gone from aiding the N.B.A."s working class to pleasing its acrobats. And until Williams gets some inside help, he will have to settle for the occasional night like Wednesday, when he can walk off the court a kingmaker.