Celts Hammer Suns

Green Improves to 25-5
1990-91 Boston Celtics

This one took a little longer. It actually lasted almost three full quarters before things got out of hand.

The relentless, remorseless Celtics made it 15 in a row at home last night and treated the supposedly vaunted visitors the same way they've treated everyone else lately: with utter disdain.

They pulled away with a textbook third quarter and went on to annihilate the Phoenix Suns, 132-103, easily repulsing yet another challenge to their home-court omnipotence.

On the surface, this one seemed different. Wasn't Phoenix a team that could take a hit or two and not cry, "No mas" (unlike New York, Atlanta, et al)? Hadn't it won four straight, the last two by margins of 39 and 22 points?

And even though the Suns were without Tom Chambers (hamstring) and his 21 points, didn't they have sufficient firepower to keep the fans around for some other reason than seeing Stojko Vrankovic?

We'll never know. The Celtics again shot the ball with uncanny accuracy -- 63 percent -- and they have eclipsed the 60 percent mark six times in 30 games. They did it four times in 82 games last year.

They moved the ball well (32 assists), clamped down defensively (Kevin Johnson ran into white-shirted roadblocks on almost every foray to the basket) and established a season high with 15 steals.

"Our guys are really focused," said coach Chris Ford, using one of his favorite buzzwords. "I thought we played well. And we were able to turn up the notch defensively in the second half."

Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons praised the Celtics, but then added this caveat: "They will come to the Valley of the Sun and we will look forward to seeing them. We'll talk that night."

The Celtics, as is their custom, had a long list of heroes. Brian Shaw was pumped for his tete-a-tete with KJ and acquitted himself nobly, scoring 21 points (9 for 13) and collecting 9 assists. Kevin McHale led the team with 23 (9 for 12) and Robert Parish had a night of target practice (18 points on 9-for-10 shooting) while collecting 11 rebounds.

And did we forget Larry Bird? His ho-hum numbers: 21 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals.

"They have a lot of weapons," marveled Dan Majerle. "How can't they be good?"

The Celtics unleashed their terrible, swift sword in the third quarter, turning a 2-point game into a 25-point blowout. Phoenix had closed an 8-point halftime deficit to 67-65 and 69-67 when Boston simply erupted.

Over the final 9 minutes 14 seconds of the quarter, the Celtics outscored the Suns, 33-10. In that quarter, Boston shot 63 percent, had a 15-8 rebounding advantage, committed only one turnover, scored 12 points off six Phoenix turnovers and got the crowd into it for the first time in a while.

"Our defense picked up and we did a great job of containing their scorers," Bird said. "We actually flirted with a blowout in the first half they were up by 13, but we couldn't get over the hump."

The Chambers-less Suns had no one step into the void. Fitzsimmons had said before the game that he needed two players to have big games to stand a chance. Jeff Hornacek had 22. But KJ had only 15 and Xavier McDaniel (3 for 12) was MIA with only 9.

"I knew I'd have to have a big game, but I never allowed it to come to me the way I should have," KJ said. "There are ways to do it within the context of what we're trying to do, and I didn't. We lost our composure, starting with myself, and soon they were up by 10 and had all the momentum."

The Suns had actually thought things might go the other way. They

had survived a torrid-shooting first half by the Celtics and trailed only 67-59. Then Hornacek unloaded three quick nuclear warheads and suddenly it was a 2-point game.

But after pulling to 69-67, the Suns committed three straight turnovers. Shaw and Parish combined for the first 7 points in a 9-0 blitz and the lead was 11. The real damage was still to come, however.

Leading, 84-73, the Celtics put it into overdrive, scoring 13 of the next 15 points. Bird had a 3-pointer in there and McHale capped it with a rousing fast break jam from Shaw. The lead was now 22.

The Suns called time and the fans stood and cheered wildly throughout the entire break. Why wait until the end when it clearly was all over?