Utah 90, Boston 85

A frustrating loss, but one that needs to be kept in persepective.

[recap] [box score]

The big difference in tonight's game was that Kevin Garnett went out just before halftime with what they're calling a sprained right knee. Apparently the knee has been bothering him a bit of late, and when he went up for a rebound on a break, he seemed to tweak it a bit on takeoff. It was a scary moment, as it always is when there's a non-contact knee injury. But it looked like KG wanted to return, and probably would have if it was, say, the playoffs. As frustrated as I get when the Celtics lose, shutting him down for the night in the hopes that he can come back Sunday against Phoenix was the right move.

And yes, Utah was also missing their power forward, Carlos Boozer. But Boston is definitely the least deep of the title contenders this year; more than any other team, the Celtics are reliant on their starters, in particular Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. We can't realistically expect to win against a good team like the Jazz without one of those three, particularly in a place as difficult to win as Utah.

This game was winnable, though. The Celtics hit just 19 of 29 free throws. And I didn't much like the offense down the stretch. We went to the pick and roll with Rondo and Pierce, like we did against Dallas last week, but Pierce wasn't hitting his shots, probably because he played more than 45 minutes and was battling a very physical Utah defense the whole night (because I'm trying to keep this loss in perspective, I'm not going to complain about the officiating, which was inconsistent, at best, all night). Pierce picked up one offensive foul on that play, and missed almost everything else. We went to the well too early, and too often. When we have Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo (who caused some problems for Deron Williams in the fourth quarter), we shouldn't run that play into the ground. We've got other options.

The cap to the frustrating night came when Utah missed a free throw with eight seconds left up three, but got the offensive rebound and sealed the game. Boston had no timeouts left, and the three-point shooting team was in. With no timeouts remaining, Doc couldn't sub in, and that left Allen and Pierce on the low block, and Utah overwhelmed them and got the board. When I was watching them line up, I was worried about that exact thing happening, but I guess with no timeouts, there's nothing Doc could have done.

Time to put this one past us. Hopefully KG will be fine for Sunday (2:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC) and we can get a win against a Suns team that has put up an average of 141 points in two games since firing Terry Porter. Alvin Gentry has re-installed their uptempo offense, and even though both those offensive explosions came against the hapless Los Angeles Clippers, 141 points against any NBA team is impressive.

Patrick O'Bryant, we hardly knew ye. The young center -- whom Boston signed as a free agent in the offseason -- was shipped to Toronto in a three-way deal that resulted in Raptors reserve point guard Will Solomon being sent to Sacramento. Boston's take? Another heavily-protected second-round pick from Sacramento, quite similar to the Cassell deal. Like the Cassell move, this is a clear money-saving measure - the picks are protected enough that it's quite possible we'll never actually get them.

I had hoped that O'Bryant -- our only true backup center -- would evolve into something under the tutelage of Clifford Ray, but it seems as though he lacks the toughness, defense, and half-court offense to fit into the Celtics' current plans.

Shipping Cassell and O'Bryant out leaves us with two roster spots open to sign players who may be bought out in the coming days. The most desirable target is Oklahoma City veteran power forward Joe Smith, who was part of the Tyson Chandler trade a few days ago that was rescinded after Chandler failed a physical. Smith has been a buyout candidate all year, and would be a very nice fill-in for our undersized bench corps.

The other rumor is Sacramento power forward Mikki Moore, whom the Kings were allegedly trying hard to move before the trade deadline. I'd rather have Smith, but Moore would be better than nothing.

I suppose it's possible that if Boston signs both of them if both are bought out. However, I still wouldn't rule out Cassell returning to the team. I have to wonder if the injury to Tony Allen had something to do with the O'Bryant trade: did we move Cassell with the intention of signing a guy like Smith, then have second thoughts about leaving our backcourt so thin when it was realized that Allen would miss two months? It's hard to imagine that the front office didn't at least suspect that Allen would miss significant time, but anything's possible. Either way, a frontcourt contributor has to be our top priority, but I would be surprised to see a backcourt acquisition down the stretch here. The Knicks' Stephon Marbury is probably the target, though we still need him to be bought out before we can sign him. If not the Starchild, then Cassell seems like the most likely option. I don't know of other guards who are likely to be bought out. Under NBA rules, Cassell cannot re-sign with Boston until 30 days have passed from the day he was traded, but I can't see any other team picking him up in the interim. Even if there was interest from other contenders, I'm sure his preference would be to return to Boston.

There were some rumors that we were trying to get Andres Nocioni, traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Kings as part of a deal for Brad Miller and John Salmons. I can see the appeal of Nocioni -- a tenacious defender with a bit of a mean streak who can hit the three; someone in the mold of James Posey, who was so key to the title last year and who signed with New Orleans in the offseason. But the rumored deal included some size: O'Bryant, Scalabrine, Glen Davis, along with Tony Allen. I've gotten conflicting reports on whether it was just all or some of that group, but either way, I'm glad we didn't do it. We could probably use Nocioni, but it doesn't make sense to bolster the wing at the expense of an already undersized second-team frontcourt.

Despite a lot of small deals, it was a relatively quiet trade deadline in terms of biggest impact deals. The biggest move and the one that matters to the Celtics was the Orlando Magic acquiring Houston point guard Rafer Alston (the Rockets then filled their hole at the point by acquiring Memphis' Kyle Lowry, who will share time at the 1 with Aaron Brooks). Jameer Nelson's season-ending shoulder injury left the Magic with a big hole, and if Alston can knock down some three-pointers, the Magic might not miss a beat.