If you need your basketball fix on Wednesday night and can’t wait until the NCAA Tournament returns, you could do worse than watching a potential NBA Finals preview in Boston between the Celtics and Suns, with Phoenix 5-point betting underdogs at WagerWeb.com.
Actually, both teams could rather use a win – Phoenix’s seven-game winning streak ended Monday and Detroit, while Boston has dropped two games in a row but does still hold a five-game lead and the tiebreaker over Detroit for the No. 1 seed in the East with 12 games to play.
In the teams’ first meeting this year, Feb. 22, the Celtics played one of their worst games of the season. It resulted in an 85-77 Phoenix win that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
That was the Celtics’ lowest point total of the season and Phoenix’s stingiest defensive effort of 2007-08.
Several factors worked in Phoenix’s favor that day. Boston was playing its third road game in four nights and both Paul Pierce (2-for-13 shooting, five points) and Ray Allen (3-for-12, 11 points) had off performances.
The loss in Phoenix was the third straight on a 2-3 western road trip last month, marking the C’s only three-game losing streak of the season - which they will try to avoid tonight.
However, since Steve Nash began his second go-round in Phoenix, the Suns are 6-1 against Boston, including a 3-0 road mark in Beantown. In the one loss, Nash sat out with a sore hamstring.
And Phoenix’s offense is humming, as the Suns have shot at least 50 percent for seven straight games and are averaging 118.6 points and shooting 56.4 percent in that stretch. Nash is shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor in those seven games.The Suns have the opportunity to become the first Western Conference team to beat Boston twice this season. But after starting out 22-2 vs. the East, they have lost three straight (Detroit twice and Philadelphia).
Amar Stoudemire can become the first Sun to score 30 or more points in three consecutive games since Shawn Marion in 2006.
Boston is allowing just 90.4 points per game and opponents are shooting just 41.9 percent, both tops in the league. Its magic number to clinch the East is seven, while the Suns are just battling to make the playoffs in the tight West.
"These games are crucial to us, too," Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. "We are trying to establish something, and a rhythm going into the playoffs. So these are big games for us, too, just as it is for all the other teams coming in here."
Garnett, a leading MVP candidate, is in the top 30 in the league in rebounds (16th, 9.5), field-goal percentage (14th, 53.4), steals (17th, 1.43) and blocks (30th, 1.25) and is second on the team in scoring (18.8).
Boston forward James Posey, who missed the team’s last game to tend to what was described as family business, is expected to be in uniform tonight.
| ATS | Phoenix | Boston |
| Record: | 47-23-0 (.671) | 55-15-0 (.786) |
| As Favorite: | 45-17-0 (.726) | 48-11-0 (.814) |
| As Underdog: | 2-6-0 (.250) | 7-4-0 (.636) |
| At Home: | 26-10-0 (.722) | 29-6-0 (.829) |
| On Road: | 21-13-0 (.618) | 26-9-0 (.743) |
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