Game Preview: Suns vs Celtics

Beating the Lakers was definitely a mental hurdle the Suns needed to clear in order to take that next step towards really being a contender. A great win for sure but tonight is going to be far tougher. If there is one thing you can say about the KG-led Celtics, it’s that they are a prideful team who will sorely want to avenge their recent poor losses with a solid win against a good team. The C’s will bring their best tonight so the Suns better be prepared for an extremely talented, versatile team with their backs against the wall(or so I am sure they are spinning it after two bad losses).

The Suns do however matchup fairly well with the Celts. For Rondos defensive wizardry we have Nash’s offensive wizardry. For KG we have Amare. For the Celts 5 who can shoot threes(’Sheed) we have one of our own(Frye). For Pierce… Richardson. You get the point. The one difference is that the Celts play better team D.

Prediciton: Celtics 104, Suns 101

So I’m guessing Marquis will start at the 3. Despite a good defender and a reasonable offensive threat, he’s no Pierce. I think it’ll be a good matchup for the Suns. Only Rondo might ruin it, but if JRich is healthy he’s able to destroy the C’s as he’s so used to do.

Injuries will be a major factor and the story of this game.

AT THE THREE

• Paul (the dirty truth) Pierce is out with his knee problem. – This is great news for us, especially in the 4th Quarter when the C’s usually shift into “give-it-to-Pierce-and-get-the-beep-out-of-the-way” mode. The Celtics have lost both games so far that Pierce has missed.
• Marquis Daniels, Pierce’s back up – is also out after having thumb surgery on his left hand.

With both Pierce and Daniels out at the 3 spot, that leaves only Red Rocket Scalabrine as the true 3 to come in and try to contain Hill and Dudley. Of course, 6’-5" Ray Allen will undoubtedly switch over and try his best as well – but that is a favorable match-up for 6’-8" Hill or even JRich who went off for 34 points and 10 rebounds shooting nearly 63% from the field in the Suns epic win over the C’s at the garden.

AT THE FOUR

• Glen (big temper tantrum) Davis – is out with a sprained ankle sustained in Moday’s game v. the warriors. He will just have to be mean and have ‘no fun’ on the bench with the scrubs tonight.
• Kevin Garnett just hasn’t been the same old Garnett as of late and currently he is playing with a banged up leg and is a game-time decision for Rivers

With Davis out and KG questionable I’m looking for Amare to have a beastly night. With so many bigs out of the equation for the C’s the Suns should look to drive and pound the paint at every opportunity. Both Perkins and Wallace are still very potent defenders and shot blockers, but without the court security of Davis/Pierce/Daniels and possibly KG I will bet they will be very hesitant to challenge every shot or drive tonight in a conscious effort to avoid foul trouble not to mention protect against the Suns floor spacing. So I say ATTACK. Attack, attack, and attack some more. If we can get just one of their bigs into early foul trouble we will increase our chance for domination substantially.

• Rajon Rondo is also battling a minor hamstring injury he suffered in the Monday loss to GS – though he still managed to drop 30 something…

With all of these injuries captain obvious says the Celtics are in bad shape… and I haven’t touched (and I won’t) on all the great things the Suns are doing. The bottom line is this – last year the world saw the Celtics collapse due to the shanking of team morale and confidence caused by KG’s injury, and I think they are facing the same demon currently. They are 0-2 with their captain Pierce out with those losses coming against sub-par (yet extremely athletic) teams. They will undoubtedly try to will themselves to a victory tonight against the Suns in an attempt to salvage their 4 game road trip… but I don’t see it happening. The Celtics are just too weak currently to handle the Suns. Our bench is too deep – we space the floor too well – Beep Beep is back – Steve Nash is too good – Amare has officially returned from injury – Dudley is a sniper – Frosty is fearless – and it rains 3’s in Phoenix. Good luck green team… you’ll need it.

Just like the Laker game, this only counts for one win. And if it means we get it because they’re dressing 8 players, it’s just one more notch in the W column. But I agree with watdogg: the Suns need to come out and play hard early so the C’s never have a chance.