Within the first two minutes of the game, Phoenix had taken an 8-6 lead.
Ray Allen tied the game at eight on a jump shot at the 10 minute mark, and the Suns would never be ahead in the game again.
Kevin Garnett got off to a fast start scoring 12 points in the first on 5-5 shooting. Garnett would go on to score 28 points on the game (all in the first three quarters) to lead all Celtics. He also had 11 rebounds to continue on his run of double-doubles.
Garnett was not alone in the double-double category. Both Paul Pierce (16 PTS, 14 REB) and Rajon Rondo (16 PTS, 15 AST) joined KG on the night, and Glen Davis (14 PTS, 8 REB) wasn’t far off. All five Celtics starters reached double figures in points on the night.
At the end of the first the Celtics had jumped out to a 30-21 lead, and by halftime they continued to build on it. As the teams walked to their locker rooms the score showed the Celtics up by 20, outscoring the Suns 62-42 in the first half.
A little over halfway through the third period, a scary moment happened as Phoenix’s Vince Carter and Channing Frye smashed heads. Both men went down in a heap with Carter not moving as the game went to commercial. Each man was able to leave the court on his own, but neither would return on the night.
With 3:28 remaining in the third, Garnett sunk his second free throw (last points of night) to give the Celtics a 29-point lead, 88-59.
Game over, right? Wrong.
As the Celtics scored their 91’st (91-63) point with under two to go in the quarter, something strange happened. The Celtics went cold, and the Suns went, well, hot. For nearly a five-minute stretch between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, the Suns went on an 18-0 run, cutting the Celtics lead down to 10, 81-71.
Led by their bench of Aaron Brooks (17 PTS), Jared Dudley (15 PTS), and Martin Gortat (13 PTS, 13 REB), the Suns were able to get within eight points at 93-85, but that would be as close as they’d get, as the Celtics pulled away to a 115-103 win.
The win wasn’t without drama.
In the final minute of the game, “Big Baby” came down awkwardly on his left knee after a dunk, and had to leave the game; an MRI was scheduled after the game. To end the game, Rondo decided to throw up a three with a second to go, and was fouled by Dudley as the game became a bit hostile at the end.
The Celtics are now 3-0 during the “Jeff Green Era”, and for the third game the best player involved in the deal wasn’t Green. Nenad Krstic had 13 points on the night with four boards, while Green put in six with one board.
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