Boozer couldn't hit groove

A bummer of a postseason ended fittingly Friday night for Utah Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer.
At home.
On the bench.
Watching his backup, minimum-pay/maximum-effort Paul Millsap, do so much of what he did not -- not only in Utah's 108-105 Game 6 Western Conference semifinal loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, but also throughout most of the Jazz's 12-game playoff run.
"He was just very aggressive offensively and defensively," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said of Millsap, who pulled down eight rebounds and scored 15 points with 6-of-7 shooting in just 24 minutes off the bench.
"He was very active, and just provided us with a big spark of energy, and he was running the floor hard," Williams added. "And it's rewarding to get the ball to him."
Intended or not, Williams' statement is as much an indictment of Team USA member Boozer's play as it is a compliment on 2006 second round draft choice Millsap's.
Utah's starting power forward was a shell of his All-Star self throughout the postseason. He did pull down 12.3 rebounds per game. But he averaged only 16.0 points in those 12 games -- a whopping 5.1 off his regular-season average.
In the six-game Lakers series, he had just one outing with more than 18 points. In a six-game first-round series with the Houston Rockets, there was just one with more than 19.
And in the most critical game for the Jazz, Friday's elimination affair in front of his own less-than-impressed fans, he had just 12 points before fouling out with four minutes and 34 seconds remaining.
Indicative of Boozer's night, one in which he logged just 36 minutes: a foul for driving into Lamar Odom with 13.4 seconds to go in the opening half, negating a basket that would have cut L.A.'s lead at the time to 14.
Instead, the Lakers went into the break up by 19 -- and Boozer was left to play pom-pom shaker while a late-game Jazz rally fizzled with two failed trey tries.
"It's terrible, man," said Boozer, who was flustered throughout the series by Odom and fellow Laker big man Pau Gasol. "You know you want to be out there, trying to help your team, um, get over the hump. You know, it's tough to do. But in that situation you just gotta cheer 'em on."
And try not to let the audible postseason jeers of at least some Jazz faithful keep you down.