IT Brings his Talents (Back) to Phoenix

Phoenix Suns (20-42) v Boston Celtics (26-22)

Sunday 3/5/2017 3pm
Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ
Fox Sports Arizona/Arizona Sports 98.7FM

Season Series – Series tied at 0-0
All-Time Series – Boston Leads 67-54
Last Matchup – March 26, 2016 Boston won 102-99
Suns’ Last Game – Win over the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-111
Celtics’ Last Game – Win over the Los Angeles Lakers 115-95
Suns’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 107.5 (10th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 112.6 (29th of 30)
Celtics’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 108.0 (6th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 105.4 (15th of 30)

Preview

Two teams, once – many years ago – NBA Finals adversaries – are now moving in totally opposite directions in the league: The Boston Celtics are building to make another run at the Finals, possibly within the next couple of years. The Phoenix Suns, are the third worst team in the league, and their best shot at winning, is this NBA’s lottery in a few months.

They do have one connecting tie however: Isaiah Thomas.

The former Sun is having one of the best seasons in Boston Celtics history, averaging 29.4 points and 6.2 assists per game. His scoring is currently on pace to become the second best single game scoring season in franchise history behind only Larry Bird’s 1987-88 season in which he averaged 29.9. Bird finished second in MVP voting behind Michael Jordan. According to NBA.com/stats, Thomas is averaging 10.3 points in the fourth quarter, the best since the statistic has been recorded since 1996-97.

Remember when Thomas was the third point guard on the Suns and orchestrated his exit from Phoenix? Yeeeaaahhh…

The Boston Celtics have won their last three games against the Suns by an average of seven points. Boston is second in the Eastern Conference behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers and are on pace for 53 wins, their highest regular season mark since 2010-11 when they won 56.

The Celtics are the last team in the league that the Suns have not played at least once. Phoenix has completed 13 season series’ already.

The Suns are on a tiny winning streak as they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, their second win in a row, tying their longest win streak of the season. The Thunder came into Phoenix on Friday following a late game in Portland and were 3-8 on the second half of a back-to-back this season. Although the Thunder as a team could not overcome the Suns’ rest and youthful energy, Russell Westbrook pulled out all the stops, and came one last second alley-oop pass attempt (that was deflected by Devin Booker) away from his 31st triple-double of the season, scoring 48 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Alan Williams had another double-double for the Suns, his sixth on the year.

Three Interesting Facts

Phoenix Suns

1. Phoenix’s two game season long winning streak has been reached four times this season. In their prior three attempts to win a third straight game, they have lost by 9 points to the Lakers, 4 points to the Cavaliers, and 1 points to the Timberwolves.

2. It has been 475 days since the Suns have had a three-game winning streak, the longest gap in franchise history.

3. Although the Boston Celtics are going to be a very tough test for the Suns, Phoenix has won four of their last five games at home, two of those games against teams who are currently slated to be playoff participants.

More from Valley of the Suns

Boston Celtics

1. Since his trade from Phoenix to the Celtics in early 2015, Thomas has played the Suns on three occasions and as mentioned above, Boston has won all three games. He is averaging 22.7p/3r/5a in those matchups.

2. Since his franchise-record 43 consecutive games of 20+ points was broken last week, Thomas has scored 31 points in one of the subsequent three games, although twice has failed to reach 20. Because of that 31 point performance he is still averaging 22.6 in those three games, however.

3. The Celtics are 14-10 against the Western Conference this season.