"I'm sure these people were pretty upset about what happened and were not happy with him, or maybe the Jazz for that matter," fellow co-captain Raja Bell added. "But I think that incident in Detroit (a virtual riot involving Indiana Pacer players fighting Pistons fans in the stands at The Palace of Auburn Hills earlier this season) was kind of isolated. I couldn't see anything like that happening here."

Still, Bell suspects he and his Jazz teammates will be on the receiving end of some pointed displeasure from Cavs fans who would otherwise have directed their anger at Boozer.

"We're the team that got him," he said. "So a lot of that's going to fall on us too."

Sloan, though, said he "can't worry about that.

"Those things, once they throw the ball up, they don't count, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "There's nothing I can do about it, and the players can't do anything about it."

Privately some with the Jazz grumbled about Boozer not being in Cleveland.

Publicly, though, no one questioned the decision.

In fact, Jazz trainer Gary Briggs said anyone with an injury like Boozer's would not make a similar trip.

"I don't know where he could benefit from being here," Sloan said.

"I don't know if he had a choice in the matter," Harpring added. "If you're injured, you can't time that."

Asked if Boozer wouldn't have made it easier on himself by dealing with the reaction now rather than deferring it, Sloan said, "That's something he'd have to answer, probably. I can't answer for him."

Boozer was not made available for comment Monday.

Those who did talk, though, seemed to see both sides.

"I'm sure there's something to be said for that," Bell said. "On the other hand, a year goes by, (and) they (the Cavaliers) have a good season; maybe it dulls the pain for some of (the upset fans)."

Eventually, though, Boozer must face his former fans. Or at least Cavs coach Paul Silas thinks so.

"They're not going to move on from it," Silas told Cleveland reporters. "He's going to have to deal with that. Certainly, they're going to let him know how they feel."

That being the case, perhaps it is just as well Boozer is not in town, suggested Briggs, a longtime Cavs trainer before moving to Utah.

Even if he were hurt but had traveled, Briggs said, Boozer may not have set foot in Gund.

"(We) would have had him stay at the hotel probably," the Jazz trainer said. "I have a concern with the proximity of the fans and how much hype there was."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com