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Nash, Suns aim for season sweep of lowly Celtics

Feb 21, 2007 - 4:20 PM Boston (13-39) at Phoenix (40-13) 9:00 pm EST

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The Phoenix Suns are finally back at full strength. That's not good news for the Boston Celtics.

Time-two MVP Steve Nash and the Suns will try and complete their second straight season sweep of the Celtics on Wednesday.

Shawn Marion had 31 points and nine rebounds and fellow All-Star Amare Stoudemire added 22 and eight to help end the Suns' three-game slide with a 115-90 triumph over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

The win also saw the return of Nash, who had missed the last four games with inflammation in his right shoulder. He had 12 points and 13 assists in the win.

"It's nice to just be out there with your teammates," Nash said. "As a group it's a lot of fun to win after three straight losses. It's maybe good for us that we suffered a little bit. Maybe we can regroup here. We have good chemistry, good talent, we are unselfish. I think that is important."

Paul Pierce netted 26 points and Delonte West chipped in 23 for Boston in a 104-101 loss at Sacramento on Tuesday.

The Celtics, who ended a franchise-record 18-game slide prior to the start of this five-game road trip, have lost 26 of their last 29 games.

Phoenix has not won four straight meetings against Boston since bridging four in a row from December 27, 2001 to December 5, 2003 - a span of three seasons.

But the Celtics have never been swept by the Suns in two consecutive campaigns.