Phoenix 88, Boston 71

Friday was one of those nights in the NBA.

[recap] [box score]

It was somewhat predictable, really. The second night of a road back-to-back is always tough, and Phoenix' up-tempo style is particularly difficult to deal with. In addition, Boston's got a huge game coming up on Sunday against the Lakers. And the Celtics had struggled in Thursday night's win against Portland.

Some quick bullets:

• Doc Rivers got thrown out in the second quarter after Steve Javie hit him with two quick Ts. The first was probably justified -- the second came awfully quick thereafter.
• The AP wire story linked above focuses quite a bit on an allegedly low blow that Kevin Garnett laid on Channing Frye. It wasn't nearly as bad as the story makes it sound. Earlier in the game, Garnett had closed out on a Frye jumper and gotten a little too close, and Frye landed on KG's foot and tweaked his ankle a bit. Late in the game, the same sort of thing happened, with KG subtly trying to jab Frye in the stomach, a fairly common tactic to distract a shooter. He missed, but the contact to Frye's groin area wasn't what set Frye off. The ensuing melee -- for which Garnett was thrown out merely, it appeared, for talking -- was caused by Frye's belief that KG was purposely getting underneath him and endangering his knee and ankle.
• Boston was actually in the game at that point, having been energized by a flagrant foul on Phoenix's Mickael Pietrus. Pietrus ran through a Garnett screen with his arms up, catching KG in the neck and jaw area. It was a much bigger cheap shot than what Garnett did to Frye, unless you believe that KG was actually trying to hurt Frye by sticking his foot out for Frye to land on. I don't.
• Basketball-wise, there isn't much to talk about. Boston couldn't shoot and couldn't hang on to the ball. No one played well offensively. Defensively, they weren't horrible, but the bigs got pushed around by Robin Lopez and Marcin Gortat, and that kind of set the tone.
• Glen Davis didn't play in the second half after straining his hamstring in the first. I hear it's not serious, but I'm unsure if he'll play Sunday against the Lakers.
• Speaking of the Lakers, as bad as we were on Friday, at least we didn't lose to the Kings at home.