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BOSTON: Kevin Garnett scored 30 points while Paul Pierce added 27 as
the Boston Celtics defeated Phoenix, 117-97, Wednesday in a National
Basketball Association game.
Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen each added 14 points
as the Celtics improved to an NBA-best 56-15, including a 13-1 mark
at home against Western Conference opponents.
“We knew that they didn’t have anybody to
stop Kevin [Garnett] in the post along with myself and that’s what
coach said before the game and we took advantage of that,” Pierce
said.
The Celtics had squandered double-digit leads to
New Orleans and Philadelphia in their most recent games but snapped
a losing streak after taking a 33-18 lead.
“I think it was consistent throughout the
whole game,” Allen said. “They had no answer for them. It’s
one thing when you’re watching what we’re doing but they’re
making shots over the top of them and there was nothing they could
do about it.”
Shaquille O’Neal ignited a 14-2 Phoenix run
and the Suns pulled level 57-57 at halftime.
“We really didn’t play that well tonight in
the first quarter. We played okay in the second quarter to get
ourselves back in it, but we just weren’t really good enough,”
Suns point guard Steve Nash said. “I can’t analyze it any better
than that, we weren’t good enough. We were sloppy and didn’t
make enough shots.”
Rondo took advantage of 21 turnovers that set up
31 Celtics points.
“Rondo has been showing all year that he can
stand off with any point guard eye-to-eye he matches up with,”
Pierce said. “You look at all the guards he had to match up with
in the last week and a half, with the Tony Parkers and the Chris
Pauls, and to me, he outplayed those guys.”
In Oregon, Portland Trail Blazers scoring leader
Brandon Roy could miss the remainder of the season after suffering a
groin injury in a victory on Tuesday.
The guard suffered the injury at the final
buzzer of the first quarter in a 102-82 triumph over Washington when
he landed awkwardly after jumping to defend a three-point attempt.
He briefly returned in the second quarter then sat it out for good.
Portland coach Nate McMillan expressed concern
the injury could take more than a month to heal and the Trail
Blazers, 38-34, are six games out of the last Western Conference
playoff spot with 10 games to play.
The Trail Blazers could still manage their first
winning season in five years but even that charge will be hurt
without Roy, who is averaging 19.3 points and 4.0 assists a game.
-- AFP
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