With the Olympics about to descend on the city, the Celtics were looking to execute a basketball biathlon vs. the Jazz - shoot down the hosts for the second time in a week and ski straight out of town.

Instead, they failed to execute well enough in the pairs competition. Utah won the game, 99-86, and this time no bribes were involved.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points, but he had just three in the game's last 16:59. And when Antoine Walker made just two of his first 11 shots (he had a mere seven points through three quarters), it was all downhill for the Boston delegation. Pierce started slowly, not even attempting his first field goal until 18:25 after the opening tip. Celtics coach Jim O'Brien thought Pierce might have been giving the ball up a bit too quickly in anticipation of a trap. But when the Jazz did come at him in the last period, Pierce was looking for more help from his friends. Walker had 12 points in the last 9:07, but he was bailing against the tide by then.

``The Utah Jazz are a well-coached team and I could hear them on the sideline whenever I touched the ball,'' Pierce said. ``They weren't going to let me beat them. In the second half, they were sending the point guard right at me on the catch. They were trying to take me out of my rhythm.

``But it's a team game,'' Pierce added. ``Other guys can't just depend upon me to me score all the points - especially down the stretch. Guys really have to step up. Teams are not just going to let Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker beat them.''