Suns vs. Celtics a Possible Finals Preview

Tonight at 7pm EST we get a look at the cream of the Eastern crop in the Boston Celtics as they play host to the Phoenix Suns, in a game that is sure to have all the intensity of a possible NBA Finals preview. 

The Celtics come in with the best record in the NBA at (55-15) while the Suns are coming off a tough overtime defeat to the Pistons and having their 7-game winning streak snapped. 

Tonight the Suns need not only be focusing on the game at hand, but the season at large.  If the Suns get out of the stacked Western Conference this could be the team standing in the way of their first ever title. 

Boston is the #1 rated defense in the league and in the pre Shaq era Phoenix has always been ousted by physical, defensive minded teams.  No matter how gaudy Phoenix's offensive numbers have been over the past few seasons they run into a brick wall come playoff time, and that wall has worn a San Antonio Spurs jersey.  When it came down to grinding out a tough playoff game the Suns were simply overmatched in a 7 game series.  You can't expect a team to display the consistency it takes to win a championship without playing defense.

Fast forward to the latter stages of the 2008 campaign and with Shaq in the paint no one is questioning the toughness of the Phoenix Suns or it's ability to play stifling, shut-down defense when it's needs to, and this season with the emergence of so many excellent teams, that was the one thing they needed to get them over the hump, and give themselves a legitimate shot at a title.

So now that Phoenix has fixed their supposed one and only glaring void, what's stopping them and their tandum of league MVPs from just walking through the playoffs this year?  In the East the answer is only Boston or Detroit, and luckily they only have the opportunity to face one as they take aim at the trophy.

Tonight they face the Boston Celtics.  KG and company have proven to be too much to handle in the front court performing on the both ends of the floor, but if the Suns want to be successful Shaq and Amare need to come out aggresive. If they can get either KG or Perkins in foul trouble then they should have a field day down low because no one but Boston's starters match up well with that kind of inside presence.  Rondo can be pesky on a ball handler and tends to sneak into passing lanes, but with Nash coming off a 23 pt 9 asst performance and shooting over 60% against an ample Detroit backcourt, look for more of the same.  And although this game should certainly be playoff atmosphere basketball, look for Phoenix to come out with a little more energy as well as urgency.  With the playoffs just around the corner, and such a tightly bunched Western Conference, Phoenix needs every win they can get, else they risk dropping to the bottom half of the seedings instead of inching closer to a 1 or 2 seed.