BOSTON (Ticker) -- Raja Bell saved his offense until things looked bleak for the Utah Jazz.
Bell made two clutch baskets in the final 26 seconds as the Jazz barely held on for a 99-96 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Bell missed his first four shots from the floor and was scoreless through 3 1/2 quarters, but his offense was not needed as Utah had a 95-86 cushion with 3:35 remaining.
Boston responded with 10 consecutive points. Walter McCarty and Jiri Welsch sank back-to-back 3-pointers before Welsch buried a short jumper to give the Celtics their first lead since the first quarter at 96-95 with 50 seconds remaining.
The Jazz helped the comeback, going scoreless for more than three minutes.
"We've had the same thing happen where we've let teams come back on us and we look like we panic a little bit," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "If we just stay with it and play hard and try to do the right things we'll be alright."
After Utah nearly committed a turnover on its ensuing possession, Bell buried a spinning jump shot around Welsch with the shot-clock running down to reclaim the lead.
"I got stuck with the ball and I knew there was five seconds or less (on the shot clock)," Bell said. "I knew that I didn't have a dribble any more so I just had to get it up. I tried to get my pivot and I pivoted out of the defense.
"I hadn't hit a shot all night, but I'll take the win."
McCarty missed a 3-pointer at the other end and Greg Ostertag threw a long pass to Bell for a wide-open layup with 5.9 seconds left.
"It was lucky for us that Walter's shot was long and I was able to get the ball and hit Raja for it," Ostertag said. "We stayed close and got a big shot there at the end to take the lead back."
Mike James missed a 3-pointer as time expired and the Celtics lost for just the second time in their last eight games.
"Mike's shot looked like it was going down," McCarty said. "It didn't. We had an opportunity to win that ball game and we let it get away from us."
DeShawn Stevenson scored 22 points and Matt Harpring added 21 and 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who won for just the third time in eight games.
Andrei Kirilenko collected 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and a career-high seven blocks as Utah improved to 2-2 on a season-high six-game road trip.
Paul Pierce scored 19 points and Welsch and McCarty added 14 apiece for the Celtics, who made 7-of-15 3-pointers and 25-of-31 free throws.
Utah opened the second half with a 24-8 run to take its largest lead at 76-58 with 3:24 remaining. Harpring scored eight points during the burst and Kirilenko added six.
