Rondo Celebrates Birthday With Career Game

By KC Downey in Celtics, Featured, Top Story ⋅ February 22, 2009 at 5:54pm ⋅ Post a comment

The Suns had scored at least 140 points in three straight games, and were facing the defensive-minded Celtics without Kevin Garnett. Sure, Phoenix can score, but they haven’t really showed they can play defense. The Celtics took advantage of Suns’ weak defense in a 128-108 win, showing again that solid team defense almost always prevails over a prolific offense.

Rajon Rondo scored a career-high 32 points to go with 10 assists, six rebounds, and three steals on his 23rd birthday. Ray Allen tossed in 31 points while Paul Pierce shook off a rough start to finish with 26 points. Who needs KG anyway?

Steve Nash (19 points, 11 asssits) doesn’t need to get anything for Rondo for his birthday, because he was handing out gifts all afternoon. Nash never got any help from his teammates and Rondo was continuously blowing by him at the perimeter and driving to the hoop. Nash often seemed frustrated, as evidenced by his technical foul in the first half.

Brian Scalabrine started for the injured Garnett and played 37 minutes. He’s not quite as good defensively as KG (obviously), but Scal is a smart player and knows where to be when playing with the starting unit. He finished with 14 points and just one turnover.

With Garnett out, Glen “Big Baby” Davis saw increased minutes and finished 10 points, one steal, and one blocked shots. Leon Powe added five points and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.

The Celtics will continue their road trip Monday night against the Nuggets.