Bodog Beat

Kevin Garnett scored 30 as the Celtics beat up the Suns in Boston. (AP Images)

It was supposed to be a foreshadow to the 2007-08 National Basketball Association finals.

It ended up being a rout.

Kevin Garnett scored 30 points and Paul Pierce added 27 as the Boston Celtics handled the visiting Phoenix Suns 117-97 Wednesday night.

The Celtics seemingly took this on as a statement game, dismantling a Suns team that was 7-1 over its last eight and seemed to have finally found cohesion with the Big Cactus, Shaquille O'Neal.

Bodog Nation recently published an article about the Suns titled "Phoenix Rising". It read:

"The beauty of Shaq's desert arrival is that it coincides with one of the most competitive playoff races in NBA history. The Western Conference has six games separating first from ninth place. What that means for Phoenix? Shaq gets acclimated to its style of play in a cutthroat environment not unlike playoff basketball."

– Phoenix Rising.

Unfortunately for the Suns, little of that competitiveness was on display Wednesday. While Amare Stoudemire scored 32 and O'Neal had 16, the rest of the Suns were quiet and wilted under the intense Boston pressure. Grant Hill and Raja Bell combined to score just nine points from the shooting guard/small forward position.

Boston came into this contest as a -7 point home favorite and covered the spread running away.

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