"He did a good job of just scoring," Boozer said, "because they were doing a good job of packing it in on me when I rolled or when I got the ball in the post. So I told Deron, 'You just have to be aggressive.' And he took the game over."

Rather willingly, too.

"I felt them making a little bit of a comeback," Williams said, "and it was time for me to try to assert myself a little more."

With the Jazz lead at just five with less than five minutes left, Williams drove, cradled the ball and hit a 10-foot leaner to make it 96-89.

Nearly two minutes later, he bulled into the lane again — only to be clobbered on the now black-and-blue area under his right eye by Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins, who was tagged with a flagrant-1 foul.

Williams hit the two resulting freebies, and one Jazz possession later he knocked down a 3-pointer that made it 103-89 Utah.

And by the time he was done leaving his mark at TD Banknorth Garden, the Jazz could savor winning a game that's been on their radar.

Asked afterward if it was red-letter outing for Utah, Sloan denied that was the case from his perspective.

"I don't have red and blue and yellow and stuff," he said. "I just know when the season's over somebody tells me how many games we played, and how many we won, and how many we lost."

Nevertheless, color the Celtics green with envy.

"It was one of those games ... man ... you kind of feel like a little kid out there in the park," Pierce said, "and the bully came and snatched the ball."

And color Sloan's players more candid, arguably, than their coach.

"I definitely was looking forward to this game," Williams said. "They were the last team to beat us at home (last Dec. 29) ... and I definitely wanted to avenge that."

"Those are games you circle on your calendar, when you're playing against the best teams," Boozer added with regard to an already postseason-qualified Celtics club that by virtue of Toronto's loss Friday at Denver clinched an Atlantic Division title. "Because you know in the playoffs you're going to be playing against the best teams."

The Jazz — winner of Game 7 at Houston in their opening-round playoff series last season — also know the virtues of being able to win away from home in the postseason.

And now, perhaps, they have a driving plan for how to do just that.

"For us to win a championship, or advance in the playoffs," Boozer said, "we're going to have to win some games on the road."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com