Williams will miss eight weeks.

Early in the first quarter of Tuesday night's loss to the Washington Wizards, Williams suffered the injury in a collision with Washington forward Antawn Jamison. In that game, he played 39 minutes and scored 26 points.

"I was spitting out blood every time-out, but I thought it was my tooth, so I didn't think it was as serious as it was," said Williams, who is averaging 17.4 points and 5.1 assists per game. "I just continued to play, and there wasn't a lot of pain involved because I was playing on adrenaline, obviously. But I knew something was wrong, just not to this magnitude."

After a sleepless, painful night in Boston, Williams had an an X-ray taken that revealed the fracture.

"What I wanted was something to numb the pain, something to help with the pain and continue to fight through," Williams said of approaching the trainers on Wednesday morning. "But you go through the protocol, the X-rays, and this and that. And it came back, and there was a big line in my jaw, and that set the alarms off right there."

Williams did not play in Wednesday night's game against the Boston Celtics, although the Sixers withheld an official timetable for his return in order to wait for an examination with their doctors in Philadelphia.

Against the Celtics, Sixers coach Eddie Jordan started rookie point guard Jrue Holiday, who scored 10 points in a 113-110 loss. Tonight, Holiday is expected to make his first start at the Wachovia Center as the Sixers (5-10) host the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks (11-3).

The Sixers have lost four in a row.

Yesterday, team physician Jack McPhilemy and oral surgeon Alfred Wolanin examined Williams. He immediately underwent surgery.

In a news release, the Sixers wrote that in the coming days Williams will meet with a nutritionist to "review a liquid diet designed to assist him in maintaining his weight."

Beginning with the 2007-08 season, Williams had only missed three games until this injury.

In his last five games, Williams was playing his best Basketball of the season, averaging 23.6 points per game. In his last three games, he was averaging 26.3 points.

On his Twitter account upon learning of the fracture, Williams tweeted: "The places my career takes me. Just learned I have a fractured jaw. Gonna be out for a little while. Damn."

On Wednesday, Williams explained how he knew the injury was serious.

"I was doing everything under the sun, icing and everything. I came in [on Wednesday] and said I thought it was a little more serious."

Brand update. With soreness and tightness in his right hamstring, Sixers power forward Elton Brand missed Wednesday's game against the Celtics.

Because of the injury, Brand also sat the final 16 minutes, 14 seconds of Tuesday night's loss to the Wizards.

Jordan started Jason Smith at power forward against Boston.

For tonight's game, Brand is still listed as a game-time decision.

Contact staff writer Kate Fagan

at 856-779-3844 or kfagan@phillynews.com.