Utah Jazz: No stars, no problem as rally beats Celtics

The team with no All-Stars this season out-did the one with the three.

And it wasn't without all the lunch-bucket effort they could muster that the Jazz topped the defending NBA-champion Boston Celtics, rallying in the fourth quarter to win 90-85 in a late-starting TNT-televised game at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.

"This was a grind-it-out defensive game, and we battled with them all night," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "It's a great win."

It was the third straight and sixth in seven outings for the 32-23 Jazz, who came into the night clinging by a half game to the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff position.

The current Eastern Conference-leading Celtics, who were playing their third of six straight road games and for the first time following last weekend's NBA All-Star Game, lost for the third time in their last 18 outings.

And it took quite a comeback for all that to unfold.

Power forward Paul Millsap banked in a fall-to-the-floor jumper and hit the free throw that followed to put Utah up 77-76 with five minutes and 44 seconds to go, marking the Jazz's first lead since 7-6 early in the opening quarter.

With the game tied at 83 and just 1:01 remaining, reserve forward Matt Harpring hit a jumper to put Utah ahead to stay.

Williams followed with a fallaway jumper 41 seconds later to give the Jazz a four-point cushion, and Utah sealed its victory with one free throw from Andrei Kirilenko and two by Ronnie Brewer in the final 8.1 seconds.

Center Mehmet Okur led the Jazz with 19 points, Williams had an 18-point and 10-assist double-double and Brewer added another 16 points.

The 44-12 Celtics got 20 points from All-Star Paul Pierce and 12 from fellow All-Star Ray Allen, but they went all of the second half without the third of their shining trio, Kevin Garnett.

Garnett strained his already sore right knee while rising on a defensive play in the second quarter, and exited for the rest of the period.

He briefly returned to the floor for halftime warmups, but did not play again after the break.

The extent of the injury was not immediately known, and the former NBA MVP will be reevaluated today.

The Jazz, meanwhile, managed to go into the second half down just one despite shooting only 29.3 percent (12-for-41) from the field.