Jazz winning close games; Boozer expecting fans' ire

CLEVELAND — They won a close one Wednesday in Toronto, escaping with a four-point victory after T.J. Ford missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left.

Back before steamrolling Memphis and Sacramento, part of their ongoing five-game win steak, the Jazz also went down to the wire in wins over Seattle and Cleveland.

Against the Sonics, Deron Williams fed Carlos Boozer for the game-winner off a pick-and-roll. And against the same opponent they face again tonight, LeBron James and the Cavs — who can forget so soon? — Williams merely went the length of the floor for a winning final-seconds layup.

Living so dangerously, Boozer suggested after Utah's latest great escape, is not necessarily a bad thing.

"Eighty-five, 90 percent of the games in the NBA are gonna come down to the last three or four minutes," said Boozer, the Jazz's leading scorer with a 25.9 points-per-game average after putting up 23 against the Raptors. "There are not gonna be a lot of blowouts in the NBA.

"But," Boozer added, "that's good ... because that's what the playoffs are like. Playoffs are all close games."

So even though three of their last five victories have been by a combined eight points, Jazz teammate Andrei Kirilenko agreed, it all adds up to a positive sign.

"It's always a big deal," Kirilenko said, "when you play at the end against good opponents."

BOOZER BACK: Boozer was showered with boos here back in March, when he played his first game since leaving the city and the Cavaliers for Utah under controversial contractual circumstances in 2004.

Fans even held signs that said "LIAR" and "BENEDICT BOOZER."

This time around, Boozer expects nothing less.

"I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm sure it will be similar to last year."

And just how bad was it last season?

"For every fan that misses me," Boozer said at the time, "there are probably 10 or more that wish they could shoot me."

Boozer — who maneuvered out of his contract with the Cavs and signed a six-year, $68 million deal with the Jazz — wound up with a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double that night, but Cleveland beat Utah 82-73.

Injuries kept the power forward out of games against the Cavs during his first two seasons with the Jazz.

STYLE POINTS: Utah's 92-88 win at Toronto marked the first time this season that the Jazz have won without going over the century mark.

So it goes, Williams suggested, as the Jazz play out their first road game against Eastern Conference opponents, one which concludes with a Saturday visit to Indiana.