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Celtics welcome rising Suns to TD Garden

Mar 2, 2011 - 4:06 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Celtics return home after another successful road trip to take on a Phoenix Suns team making a playoff push in the Western Conference.

The Eastern Conference-leading Celtics finished their recent trek at 3-1 on Monday in Salt Lake City when Rajon Rondo made a key jumper with 24.1 seconds remaining, as Boston held off the Utah Jazz, 107-102, at EnergySolutions Arena.

Rondo ended with 18 points and 11 assists for the Celtics. Three-point king Ray Allen made five shots from beyond the arc en route to 25 points for Boston, which got 21 points and seven rebounds from Paul Pierce. Kevin Garnett chipped in 16 points and 14 boards.

The Celtics, who have won five of six overall, swept their home-and-home series with the Jazz for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign.

"There's always opportunity for complacency in the last game of the road trip, and I think right now we're satisfied that we ran through to the finish line and finished this trip off," Allen said.

The Suns, meanwhile, are a surprising 3-0 on six-game trek after topping New Jersey in overtime on Monday. For the second consecutive night, Channing Frye's late basket gave Phoenix the win. This time his three-pointer from the top of the circle gave the Suns a 104-103 overtime victory over New Jersey.

However, unlike his buzzer beater to top the Pacers in overtime, this one with 6.6 seconds left came with a bit more drama. Deron Williams attempted a bank shot in the final second, and as Kris Humphries redirected the tip-in towards the basket, the clock ran out. The shot appeared to be in unison with the final buzzer, and the referees had to go to a video replay to call off the basket.

"I didn't get a chance to look at it," Humphries said of his last second tip. "But from what I heard [the referees] couldn't tell so they had to go with the ruling on the floor."

Frye finished with seven points and eight rebounds, and despite Steve Nash's 10 points and 15 assists, the majority of Phoenix's scoring came from the bench. Marcin Gortat scored a team-high 17 points while Hakim Warrick added 16 points and seven boards in the win, the Suns' fourth straight since returning from the All-Star break.

Phoenix, which has won a season-high five straight on the road and 11 of 14 overall, is now just one game behind both Portland and Memphis for the final two playoff spots in the West.

The Suns have won three straight over the C's, including an 88-71 rout in the desert back on Jan. 28.