Last night the Celtics had their first game since the All-Star break in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz. It appeared that the Celtics were in complete control of the game and were on their way to an easy win. Unfortunately, foul trouble, bad turnovers and incomprehensible misses from the free-throw line led to a momentum swing and the Jazz took their opportunity in the last minutes of the 4th quarter to win the game.

There were certainly some uncharacteristic moments for the Celtics, who looked very rusty coming off of their long break. Pierce, who led the team with 20 points, was held to 2-9 shooting in the fourth. Ray Allen missed a lay-up (seriously? A lay-up? Come on RayRay) with just 1:00 left in the game and Utah up 85-83. Brian Scalabrine fouled out within the first four minutes of the third quarter, which even left Pierce asking him what the hell he was doing. The Celtics basically shot themselves in the foot with 19 turnovers, fouling Utah 30 times and only hitting 19 of 29 free-throws. Definitely not an inspiring performance by the C’s, who are still at the top of the East.

This loss was not the big news of the night however. There was a much, MUCH BIGGER problem that arose late in the second quarter. Kevin Garnett, who went up for an alley-oop, came down for an awkward landing and twisted his knee. He immediately started limping and signaled for a sub. Garnett was helped to the locker room with his right leg being held up. It was a moment that was reminiscent of last year’s finals with Pierce going down. Just like that moment, every Celtics fan held his breath and, for a brief second, thought Oh shit, there goes the season. Of course, like any other televised injury, Garnett’s landing was shown over and over again in slow motion and every time they showed it, it looked worse and worse. I thought for sure that it was a torn ligament. A season-ending, Tom Brady esque injury that would break the heart of every Celtics fan and get the questions and accusations about why we didn’t do more before the trade deadline going.

It was a tremendous relief to see Garnett warming up with the team before the beginning of the second half. It wasn’t as exhilarating as when Pierce came back from the locker room looking like a man on a mission with the Garden exploding with applause and admiration but it definitely set the fans’ minds at ease. I cancelled the double-whiskey-straight-up I had ordered during halftime and went back to enjoying my beer and conversation about high ankle sprains without feeling depressed. Doc Rivers and the team made the smart decision to keep Garnett out for the rest of the game despite his ability to warm up without any problems. He is scheduled to have his knee re-examined today and I am praying that the results come out negative. The loss to the Jazz was a tough one to swallow; losing Garnett would be a mouth-full of broken glass and battery acid.