Jazz recover from 'brick city' start News Boston Celtics

The guy considered by many to have the sweetest-looking stroke in the NBA played at EnergySolutions Arena on Thursday night. It was pretty easy to tell he wasn't on the Utah Jazz judging the first half. Jazz fans, however, will likely forgive and forget a very off first half and put a pair of free-throw line jump-shots by Deron Williams and Matt Harpring up there with any smooth shot by Ray Allen. Those two fine-form clutch jumpers in the final moments were key to Utah's thrilling 90-85 victory over the Boston Celtics at EnergySolutions Arena.

They were night ? very late night ? and day different than what the Jazz put up in the early going. In fact, it was hard to determine which was more astonishing ? the fact Utah shot 29 percent in the first half, including a Junior Jazz-like 19 percent in the opening quarter, or that the cold-shooting home team didn't fall behind by 30 to the NBA's defending champions. Yet, despite hucking the ball up like they were shooting a porcupine, the Jazz somehow managed to stay in the first half. They also continued to warm up as the game went along. With a TNT audience watching, however, the Jazz weren't about to convince viewers that they could or should unseat Boston's Allen as the league's premiere stroke artist in the first half. It wasn't just one player whose aim needed some serious adjusting, either. Eight Jazz players shot below .500 in the opening half, including six misses for Williams, five off-target attempts by Paul Millsap, four errant tries for Mehmet Okur and oh-fer outings by Kyle Korver, C.J. Miles, Brevin Knight and Andrei Kirilenko. The only two players to hit at least half of their attempts were Ronnie Brewer (2-for-4) and Jarron Collins (1-for-2). The first quarter was particularly rough for the Jazz, who missed eight shots in a row as a 7-6 lead turned into a 14-7 deficit. Before Williams finally hit a shot to end that slump ? a jumper after stepping to the side of a defender at the free-throw line ? the Jazz had only hit 2 of 13 shots. Even after that, the shooting woes continued as Utah finished the quarter missing 17 of 21 shots for a meager 19-percent accuracy rate. That rim-punishing performance ? aided in part by the Celtics' stifling defense ? led to only 13 points in the quarter for the Jazz. Despite the cold stretch, the Jazz only fell behind by 10 points in the opening half. They even chipped away at the lead ? thanks in part to solid 9-for-11 shooting at the charity stripe in the second quarter ? and pulled within a point at 39-38 at halftime. In comparison, the Jazz were downright sizzling in the third quarter when they hit 8 of 19 shots. Utah hit its first five shots in the fourth quarter. When Millsap hit a banker while falling down and being hammered ? resulting in an old-fashioned three-point play ? the Jazz had hit 8 of 10 final-period attempts. That helped them take a rare lead at 77-76. The hot streak continued as Utah hit 12 of 17 shots in the final quarter, including the back-to-back jumpers by Williams and Harpring. Utah ended up shooting 41.6 percent (32-for-77), which was quite the improvement. Surprisingly, the opening quarter wasn't the Jazz's worst of the season. In December against the New Jersey Nets, Utah shot a paltry 16 percent (3-for-19) en route to a season-low seven-point first period. Just like Thursday's game, the Jazz almost stunningly went on to win that one as they dug out of a 20-point hole and cruised to a 103-92 victory. E-mail: jody@desnews.com