Delonte West makes a pest of himself at both ends of the floor as Boston posts consecutive victories for the first time this season.

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 22, 2005

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Boston Celtics rookie Ryan Gomes said before last night's game with the Utah Jazz that if his team earned the victory, and thus earned a two-game winning streak for the first time this season, it would be an early Christmas present from the players to themselves.

Wish made, wish granted.

Thanks to a 101-89 win over the Jazz, the Celts got the monkey off their collective back, becoming the last team in the NBA to string together wins in consecutive games.

While the team was glad to cross that modest goal off their list, no one wanted to make too big a deal out of it.

"It's good to put two games together, but we have a long road trip ahead of us," said Delonte West. Boston plays at Seattle on Monday, the first game of its five-game West Coast swing.

West, who missed Monday's win over Golden State due to a mild concussion suffered Saturday in Chicago, was the difference in last night's game, according to Boston coach Doc Rivers.

Team captain Paul Pierce agreed with Rivers' assessment.

"I really think Delonte was the difference in the fourth quarter. I think the way he defended, especially down the stretch -- getting the ball to the other guys, playing defense and getting blocked shots, steals. I think we kind of fed off what he did and that's why we were able to get this win," said Pierce.

West's defensive intensity lasted for every one of the 33 minutes, 49 seconds he played. He blocked rookie Deron Williams' shot on Utah's second possession of the game, and blocked Gordan Giricek's layup attempt in the closing seconds of the game.

"From day one, I was taught that you play until there's all zeros on the clock," West said. "They were still playing offense, so I was still playing defense."

West was one of five Celtics players to hit double-figures in scoring, as he had 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and the 2 blocks. Pierce led all scorers with 30 points, Ricky Davis added 20, Mark Blount chipped in 14 and Al Jefferson added 10 off the bench.

Another key to the game for Boston was its ball protection in the second half. After turning the ball over 15 times in the first half, which has been a problem for the team much of the season, they turned it over just twice in the second half. At the same time, they were forcing turnovers on the other end of the floor. Utah had 23 turnovers in the game, leading to 29 Celtic points.

Rivers said he is able to overlook the Green's loss on the boards (the Jazz outrebounded Boston, 45-32) because of the forced turnovers and points off those plays.

Boston's play in the second quarter buoyed it going into the second half. Down 23-20 after the opening 12 minutes, the Celtics went on a 16-3 run to open the second quarter and went up, 36-25. Utah went 4:18 without scoring a point, with Jefferson getting two blocks (he finished with four) during the stretch.

Pierce sent his team into the locker room with a 47-39 lead after converting a three-point play with just seconds left in the half.

Utah made things close in the third, as they got within two twice and were still hanging around with 9:18 to go in the game after Keith McLeod hit two free throws to cut Boston's lead to 78-76.

Boston, however, found itself in the bonus with 4:39 to go and hit 5-of-7 free throws down the stretch while Pierce scored 10 of his points.

Though it took the Celtics 25 games (they are now 11-14) to string two victories together, things could be worse, Rivers said.

"It's been strange, when you think about that. It's taken us this long to do it. The positive of that, I will say, is that our guys, they kept playing, obviously. Usually, (if) you haven't won more than one game in a row at this point in the year, usually you're 10 or 12 games under .500. And the fact that we are where we're at, I think, says a lot about the guys."

As his team heads out on the road again, optimistic that it will do better than the 2-3 result it had earlier this month in the Midwest, West is starting to like what he sees.

"I like our swagger," he said. "We're definitely not where we want to be, but we're starting to find ourselves."