Jazz are all that

They end Celtics' win streak at 10

The Jazz wanted to be aggressive, and Ronnie Brewer does his part despite the presence of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. (BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF)

The Celtics, who in a surprise were bullied last night, oddly won the Atlantic Division in losing fashion.

The Celtics suffered their most-lopsided defeat of the season, 110-92, to the Utah Jazz at TD Banknorth Garden. Boston (51-13) saw its 10-game winning streak snapped, as well as its season-best 11-game streak at home. Even so, Toronto's 137-105 loss at Denver clinched the Atlantic title for the Celtics.

"It was just one of those games, man," said Paul Pierce, who scored 12 points fewer than his average with 8 points on 1-of-7 shooting. "You kind of feel like a kid out there in the park and the bully came and snatched the ball tonight. Nothing you can do about it. You give credit to them."

Said Celtics coach Doc Rivers: "They just kicked our butts."

Utah guard Deron Williams had 32 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds in 42 minutes. The Jazz shot 50.7 percent from the field, nailed 7 of 14 3-pointers, and scored 50 points in the paint. No Celtic scored more than 15 points, and the team missed 12 of 15 3-point attempts.

"I wanted to make sure that my teammates knew not to be intimidated," said Utah forward Carlos Boozer, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. "They have an imposing lineup out there with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and KG [Kevin Garnett]. I tried to let my teammates know about my [plan], just attack."

The Celtics will be in Milwaukee to night to play the Bucks. And considering last night's loss, Boston plans on being focused on Milwaukee and not the tough four-game road trip upcoming against Western Conference powers San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans.

"Truthfully, I'm not even worried about our focus [against Milwaukee]," Pierce said. "We lost tonight. I expect very good focus."

Said Garnett: "High focus tomorrow, very much."

Allen, who had 9 points in 12 minutes, suffered a bruised left heel in the first quarter and didn't return. Rivers said Allen would make the trip for tonight's game, but wouldn't play unless he was completely healthy.

"We are not going to make any excuses," Garnett said. "We got our butts kicked tonight."

Said Utah coach Jerry Sloan: "Them having Ray Allen out hurt them, probably."

The Celtics defeated Utah, 104-98, in Salt Lake City Dec. 29. Since then, the Jazz (44-23) have won 18 straight home games and had been thinking about payback against the Celtics.

"We just wanted to make a conscious effort to come out and assert ourselves early because of the way we played in Salt Lake," Williams said. "This is a game we had circled on our list."

Utah led, 33-23, at the end of the first quarter. The Jazz owned a 62-49 halftime lead and were just 2 points shy of equaling the most points scored against the Celtics in an opening half this season (64 by the Cavaliers Feb. 5).

The Jazz shot 58.3 percent in the first half, hit four 3-pointers, and scored 28 points in the paint. Garnett missed 6 of 7 field goal attempts and 3 of 4 free throws, while Pierce missed both of his field goal attempts. Williams had 15 points (10 on free throws) in the first half, while Boozer had 15 points and seven rebounds.

"Energy. I could tell off the bat energy-wise," said Garnett, who finished with 15 points. "We weren't our normal selves. These last couple of games we've been probably spoiled off the fact that we come out with really, really good energy, and tonight for whatever reason we just didn't.

"But we fought for 48 minutes. But for the most part in this league, you've got to, especially against a good team like Utah, you've got to have everything oiled up and ready to go from the jump."

A lay-in by Garnett sliced Boston's deficit to 72-68 with 3:48 left in the third. But the Celtics got no closer than that in the quarter, and were down, 79-74, entering the fourth. Pierce and Garnett combined for 15 points in the third.

A fast-break lay-in by Glen Davis cut Utah's lead to 79-76 with 11:33 remaining. But the Celtics were outscored, 31-16, the rest of the way.

"It seemed like every time we got it to 4 or 6 points, they pushed it back to 9 or 10," Pierce said. "We could never get over that hump."

Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com