A knee injury forced Kevin Garnett to leave Thursday's game against the Jazz at the end of the second quarter. It seemed to take the Utah Jazz about one more quarter to realize he was gone.
Utah didn't take advantage of Garnett's absence until the final minutes of its 90-85 win over the Boston Celtics at EnergySolutions Arena. Garnett, who averages 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, left the game with 1:08 remaining in the first half. He went up for a rebound and came down favoring his right leg and hopped into the locker room with a strained right knee.
At the time of his departure, the Jazz had just cut an 11-point deficit to three. His injury seemed to be an opportunity for Utah to overcome its poor start and keep the momentum going.
Boston didn't let that happen, at least not until the fourth quarter.
Garnett's replacement, Brian Scalabrine, picked up four fouls in less than four minutes in the opening minutes of the second half, but that was about the only noticeable weakening of the Celtics at the start of the second half.
Boston outrebounded the Jazz 13-6 and scored 12 points in the paint to Utah's 10 in the third quarter, maintaining a 66-60 lead by doing so. The Jazz finally exploited Boston inside in the fourth, outscoring the Celtics 12-6 in the paint and evening the rebounding at nine.
Much of the credit for the turnaround went to Mehmet Okur, who had eight points, a block and three rebounds in the quarter.
At one point the Jazz were 8-of-10 from the field in the fourth, thanks to their play inside.
lwodraska@sltrib.com
