Boozer's 'celebrity split' lacking

As he said before, Carlos Boozer's beef with the Cleveland Cavaliers is over. As he also said, he's still friendly with his former teammates. Everyone understands. One big happy family.

So why was there so much attention focused on the first match-up of the year between the Cavs and Jazz, anyway?

Because nobody can resist following up on a good, acrimonious celebrity split, that's why.

Here's to Jen and Brad, Bennifer and all the other celebrity pairings that sank.

The Cavs showed up, Saturday night at the Delta Center long enough to charge back from a 19-point deficit and take an 84-71 win. That, of course, was only the secondary story. The headliner was what would happen when Boozer met his former team for the first time. Answer: Technically, nothing. They met, they played, they went home. There wasn't even a respectable scowl among them. No woofing or taunting, and not even any serious elbowing. It was all as scandalous as a bake-off.

Boozer nodded at former teammates during warm-ups, gave brief hugs at the center circle and that was it. Kill the "Jaws" background music. Did they even talk?

"Yeah," said Boozer. "We talked before. But the biggest thing is we wanted to win the game, so it was tough to lose."

I passed up an hour of "Access Hollywood" for this?

Six months ago, the Boozer-Cavs story was big news. Boozer's divorce from Cleveland, and his move to Utah, was as awkward as it was murky. Considering Cleveland is leading the Central Division with a 22-13 record, you might call his move the mistake by the lake. Even now there is no clear account of what happened.

The only thing clear about this situation is that somebody was lying.

The Cliff's Notes go like this: Last summer, Boozer had an option year left on his contract. But the Cavs agreed not to pick up the option, based on the understanding that he would sign a new six-year, $38.6 million deal in a year. By not picking up the option, the Cavs allowed Boozer to become a restricted free agent. He then signed with the Jazz for $30 million more than Cleveland could offer.

Before you could say, "bamboozered," he was in Utah, saying he had made no such promises to the Cavaliers. That's when things got really confusing. If the Cavs did make an agreement with Boozer before the July 1 go-ahead date, they broke league rules. If they didn't, why not exercise the option so he wouldn't be lured by another team?