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EPA
BOSTON - The Phoenix Suns saw the best of the Eastern Conference in back-to-back games.
The verdict?
“It’s a toss-up,” Phoenix guard Steve Nash said Wednesday night after the Boston Celtics beat the Suns 117-97, two days after they lost to the Detroit Pistons. “Both terrific teams; two of the favorites, that’s for sure.”
Kevin Garnett scored 30 points, sinking the final two to an “M-V-P!” chant echoing through the new Boston Garden, and Paul Pierce had 12 of his 27 in the fourth quarter to help the Celtics snap a two-game losing streak.
“I couldn’t have imagined it a year ago,” Pierce said, thinking back to the seven-for-one trade that bought Garnett out of Minnesota over the summer. “The whole face of the Celtics turned around when the trade happened with this guy. Everyone talks about MVP, and they talk about numbers, but this guy has changed the whole culture around here.”
Kendrick Perkins had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Ray Allen had 14 points and eight assists for Boston, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Rajon Rondo scored 14 with six rebounds and six assists while pestering Shaquille O’Neal into a technical foul as Boston turned a tie game into a double-digit lead in the third.
Amare Stoudemire scored 32 and O’Neal had 16 with seven rebounds for the Suns, who brought a seven-game winning streak into Detroit on Monday night but lost 110-105 in overtime.
“In order to come out of the East, they’re going to have to go through each other, no doubt about that,” O’Neal said. “Both those teams ... you have to play damn near perfect basketball, especially at their place. And tonight we didn’t do that.”
The Celtics beat Phoenix for the first time in six tries and just the third time since 2001, improving to 24-5 this season against the otherwise superior Western Conference and an NBA-best 56-15 overall. Garnett, who also had six assists, is the main reason why.
Garnett was 12-for-19 from the field, showing his repertoire of baby hooks and short-range fallaways. He was also 6-for-6 from the line, sinking a pair of free throws with six minutes left as the crowd chanted for him to claim his second NBA MVP Award.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers said before the game that he wouldn’t get involved in an MVP campaign that seems to be settling into a race between Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul. Given a chance to make a case for Garnett, Rivers said, “Our record.”
O’Neal won the award in 2000 with Los Angeles before a well-publicized rift with Bryant led the Lakers to split the pair up. Asked who he liked in the MVP race, though, O’Neal said, “The Kobester. He’s an assassin.”
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