Sloppy, but fulfilling!

[Brutus]

what a heading for an article about basketball.
the suns are going to be hard to beat this year.

Sloppy, but fulfilling!

Phoenix Suns tough out victory in Boston for 9th straight win

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 9, 2006 12:00 AM


BOSTON - Watching the Suns win in New Jersey on Thursday was like having the finest meal. Every morsel of basketball was delicious.

Friday's victory in Boston was more like dining on sausage. It went down just fine but you did not necessarily want to see how it was made.

On a night where "grind it out" became the oft-repeated battle cry in huddles, the Suns churned out their ninth straight win by beating Boston 116-111.




Through three quarters, the Suns had committed 20 turnovers and given up 14 offensive rebounds to allow the Celtics 26 more shots. But they trailed by only one, 81-80. Boston stayed too close to Phoenix's fire and was repeatedly burned by Steve Nash's high pick-and-roll.

In the final three minutes, Boston trailed by one five times but never could tie or take the lead as the Suns scored on their final seven possessions.

This win won't serve as a classic doubleheader with Thursday's 161-157, double-overtime victory but it will do fine. The Suns are on a nine-game winning streak at this point of the season for the third straight year.

"That's a big character win for us," Suns guard Raja Bell said. "That's what good teams, teams that want to win a championship, do . . . We know if we're in striking distance that it can happen for us."

Settling for outside shots more as the game went on, the Celtics shot 42.9 percent. Paul Pierce made only 10 of 24 field-goal tries, forcing many against Shawn Marion's coverage as the help defense took away his driving lanes. The difference in the final three minutes was three missed jumpers, two by Pierce and one by Sebastian Telfair.

"They give you shots," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "And the tough thing for a young team especially is to be disciplined enough to pass those up and attack the basket and get better shots."

The Suns followed Thursday's masterpiece with Friday's jigsaw puzzle just as they responded to their ninth straight first quarter of 30 or more points with another second-quarter drop-off. With Nash out and Leandro Barbosa lost to a blast to his jaw, Phoenix had two shot-clock violations in the second quarter's first four minutes.

"This was not a thing of beauty but with what happened (in New Jersey), to come out and be able to do this is pretty good," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said.

The Suns took turns in crunch time, starting with Amaré Stoudemire who missed much of the night because of foul trouble. Stoudemire assisted on a Marion three and followed with two baskets in the lane. Boris Diaw, Nash and Marion hit consecutive jumpers to give Phoenix a 113-108 lead with 16.2 seconds to go.

"They can't take away everything," said Marion, who had team highs in points (29) and rebounds (12).

Phoenix relied on efficiency, hitting 60.6 percent of its shots.

"Mentally, we were fatigued," Nash said. "For stretches, we were sloppy mentally and in a lot of areas. We've just got to hang in there. You can't hang your head and compound it. You keep fighting."