diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TableOutputFormat.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TableOutputFormat.java
index 08af0d37fe9..b5b979b3691 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TableOutputFormat.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TableOutputFormat.java
@@ -70,10 +70,15 @@ public class TableOutputFormat extends FileOutputFormat<ImmutableBytesWritable,
     }
 
     public void close(Reporter reporter) throws IOException {
-      this.m_mutator.close();
-      if (connection != null) {
-        connection.close();
-        connection = null;
+      try {
+        if (this.m_mutator != null) {
+          this.m_mutator.close();
+        }
+      } finally {
+        if (connection != null) {
+          connection.close();
+          connection = null;
+        }
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
index 9d4031ee6f1..443d4b2d97c 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableOutputFormat.java
@@ -118,10 +118,16 @@ implements Configurable {
      * @see RecordWriter#close(TaskAttemptContext)
      */
     @Override
-    public void close(TaskAttemptContext context)
-    throws IOException {
-      mutator.close();
-      connection.close();
+    public void close(TaskAttemptContext context) throws IOException {
+      try {
+        if (mutator != null) {
+          mutator.close();
+        }
+      } finally {
+        if (connection != null) {
+          connection.close();
+        }
+      }
     }
 
     /**