Matt Harpring raised his arms in triumph like a heavyweight champion. Ronnie Brewer and Ronnie Price leaped for a flying body check. Deron Williams nodded his head as one teammate after another barked in his ear.

The Jazz trailed by 11 points in the first, second and third quarters, not to mention seven in the fourth, yet were the stronger team in the final 2? minutes. They were rewarded with a victory over the Celtics to bookend last week's triumph over the L.A. Lakers.

"We were resilient tonight," Williams said. "We battled with them. They pushed, we pushed back. They fought, we fought back. We've got to have more of that -- a lot more of that on the road -- when it gets tough."

The Jazz (32-23) took their first lead since the first quarter with 5:44 left as Millsap faked Kendrick Perkins in the air, leaned in to draw contact and banked in a 17-footer. Millsap was only 3 of 10 in the game, but his three-point play made it 77-76.

"I thought our guys really sucked it up and hung in there," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "It was tough all night. They had the lead on us, Paul Millsap's play gave us a one-point lead, and I think we just kept at it when we saw we had the chance to win the ball game."

The Celtics went to Paul Pierce three times in the final 2:39 and the Finals MVP missed three straight jumpers. Sloan opted to leave Harpring in to guard Pierce; Brevin Knight joked that Harpring "represented the old people" with his play.

After Pierce's third miss, Leon Powe tried to go up with the rebound, but lost the ball off the bottom of the backboard, giving possession to the Jazz with 1:13 left. At the other end, Williams found Harpring curling from the weak side for a foul-line jumper.

Harpring's shot proved to be the go-ahead basket, putting the Jazz ahead 85-83. Ray Allen drove for a potential tying layup, but missed with 43.9 seconds left.

That set the stage for Williams to deliver the highlight of the night.

With the ball in his hands, Williams crossed over Allen to the right, then back to the left and buried a 14-footer as he fell to the floor. Williams' jumper came at the end of a 6-for-17 shooting night and gave Utah an 87-83 lead.

"You know I always want the ball in my hands at the end of the game," Williams said. "I just couldn't get a basket, couldn't buy a basket. My shot didn't really feel good all night, but when the game's on the line, I want the Basketball whether it's shooting it or making a play."

Williams finished with 18 points and 10 assists, while Harpring had eight points in 18 minutes off the bench. Pierce was two of 9 in the fourth quarter for Boston, which made only four of 17 shots in the final period, compared to 12 of 17 for the Jazz.

After a layup by Pierce with 16.4 seconds left , the Jazz barely avoided an eight-second violation, but closed out the game at the foul line as Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer made 3 of 4 free throws.

It was enough for the Jazz's sixth win in their last seven games. They beat both Boston and the Lakers -- last season's two NBA Finals team -- in a span of nine days. Carlos Boozer also is set to practice today for the first time since undergoing knee surgery.

Garnett was injured with 1:08 left in the first quarter when he went up for an alley-oop dunk and strained his right knee. He limped away to the bench and then the locker room, but returned to warm up on the court for the second half.

But Garnett retreated to the hallway outside Boston's locker room, then decided he couldn't return.

Brian Scalabrine started the second half in Garnett's place and picked up four fouls in 3:30 before giving way to Leon Powe.

rsiler@sltrib.com Storylines

IN SHORT ? Memo Okur scored eight of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, when the Jazz rallied to beat the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics.

KEY MOMENT ? Tied at 83-83, Deron Williams drove and dished to Matt Harpring, who buried an open 15-footer and gave the Jazz the lead for good.

KEY STAT ? The Jazz missed 22 of their first 27 shots, but they were 12-for-17 from the field in the fourth quarter.