Kobe Bryant led his defending champion Los Angeles Lakers with 29 points as they went on to outscore the Phoenix Suns 121-102 last night at the Staples Center. Steve Nash and the Suns have failed to beat the Lakers in five of their last six matchups. LA didn’t have any problems playing right along and overshadowing the Suns run and gun type style.

“It’s just tough matchups all around,” Phoenix said coach Alvin Gentry. “They just took us out of everything we tried to do. We miss a dunk, and they come back with a three-point play. We miss an open shot, and then they come down with a 3-point shot. They’re a great basketball team. I don’t know if they have a weakness, after looking around.”

Andrew Bynum in his first game back from elbow problems earned game MVP rights with 26 points and 15 rebounds.  “I got my legs back, and I’m fresh,” said Bynum. “As far as the elbow goes, I’m going to continue getting treatment. It hurts a little bit, but it’s going to be that way for a little while.”

Jared Dudley led the Suns in scoring with 14 points off the bench.  They are next set to host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. This Friday the Lakers will be tested in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals verses the Denver Nuggets.

On Sunday afternoon the Boston Celtics improved to 10-0 when Rajon Rondo scores over 18 points. Rondo had more than that in the first half alone.  The C’s point guard had more than that in the first half alone, on the way to a career-high 32-point game. With KG out for 2-3 weeks with a a right knee strain, Rondo made a strong case for being included in any “Big-Three” talk in the short term. Rounding out the C’s top scorers, Ray Allen had 31 points, and Paul Pierce had 26 (going 10-10 from the free throw line). The Celtics overpowered the Suns, shooting over 63% from the field.

“Guys step up and play their roles even better when Kevin is out,” Rajon Rondo told the AP’s Bob Baum.

The Celtics face off against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night at 9:00pm. With the win, the Celtics are just half a game behind the Eastern Conference leader Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports that the Boston Celtics inquired about Bobcats’ vet Raja Bell. Bell proved himself to be very capable in the postseason with the Phoenix Suns, and seems to be the type of player that would easily fit into the C’s system. However, the green have been unsuccessful trying to move JR Giddens thus far, and are lacking in potential players to trade for Bell.

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The Boston Celtics kept the winning streak rolling at the Garden last night, as they easily handled the Pheonix Suns 104-87.  Rajon Rondo had a big night scoring 23 points and dishing out 7 assists, before he and the rest of the starters sat for the entire fourth quarter.  The game was decided after the first half with a 30 point advantage to the Celtics.  Ray Allen scored 20 points in his 32 minutes; as Garnett and Pierce finished with 16 and 12 respectively.

Shaquille O’Neal led the Suns with 16 points, and Nash followed with 12 points and 8 assists.  When asked about the C’s play,  Nash simply stated the Celtics “put on a clinic for us tonight.”  The game brought back memories of the Celtics’ 19 game winning streak earlier in the season.

After a recent mid-season drought, they seem to be back in cruise control as they have won 5 in a row.  When asked about their season Pierce stated “I never really thought we lost our confidence. We’re still the defending champions. It’s just a matter of remembering who we are as a team.”  Next the Celtics travel to Florida, facing off against the Heat the 21st, followed by Orlando on the 22nd.

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The “M-V-P” chants reigned down on the parquet floor as Kevin Garnett hit two free-throws late in the fourth quarter in his 30 point effort that lifted the Boston Celtics over the Phoenix Suns 117-97 yesterday evening at the TD Banknorth Garden. This was Boston’s first win vs. the fierce Western Conference opponents in six tries, and only their third win against the team since 2001.

In a game that was tied at the half 57-57, the Celtics came out and played an inspired type of basketball on the defensive end of the court that in return sparked their offensive production. The Suns were held to only 16 points in the 3rd quarter, an impressive stat considering they were coming off a 37 point 2nd quarter showing.

“You could hear the guys when we walked in [the locker room at halftime] saying, ‘We need to do this, we need to do that,’ said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers on boston.com. “And we said, ‘We need to do what we’ve done all year. We’re making no changes.’ And we were very stern; I was very stern about that. That we’re not going to make a change. We’re going to play it our defense… And so we went over what they were doing, and we showed if we played our normal defense, that we’re able be a better team than trying to change. And they did that in the second half. And they were all great at it. So it was a great lesson for us.”

After watching the Celtics performance last night, the rest of the NBA may have learned a lesson as well; you have to play hard for 48 minutes against this team or else you’re in for some serious trouble.

All of the Celtics starters were in double figures for points, led by Garnett’s 30. Paul Pierce had another great performance dropping 27 points on 9-16 shooting from the field and perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line. Kendrick Perkins contributed with a double-double grabbing10 boards and netting 13 points. Ray Allen had a quiet night but still produced 14 points and recorded a season high 8 assists in the win. Rounding out the five, Rajon Rondo also scored 14 points with 6 assists but more importantly kept Suns PG and former MVP Steve Nash in check.

“I just wanted to make Steve play defense on the opposite end,” said Rondo on boston.com. “I made a couple shots early, then I missed a couple, but I went back to it and still made my shots.”

The Suns had won 7 in a row before making their East Coast swing and were welcomed with two games against the top two teams in the Conference; Detroit and Boston. Detroit handed them a 109-105 overtime loss on Monday and the Celtics added to their woes with last nights pounding.

So, which team in the East is better?

“It’s a toss-up,” said Nash after the loss. “Both are terrific teams; two of the favorites, that’s for sure.”

Toss up or not, the Celtics currently hold a 6 game lead in the standings over the Pistons and with last nights win improve to a dominating 24-5 record against the Western Conference. Detroit’s record vs. the West currently stands at 20-8, the second best in the East only behind Boston’s.

The Celtics are home again on Friday with a rematch against the New Orleans Hornets. Led by another MVP candidate Chris Paul, the Hornets beat Boston last week in New Orleans so the C’s will be looking to settle the score with another strong showing tomorrow night.

The 2008 NBA trade deadline is over and has left some teams feeling confident about making a run into the playoffs, and left others wondering how long it will take the potential talent they traded for to actually turn into the superstars they were hoping they might become.

Sorry Timberwolves fans, but that’s just never going to happen for you.

Unlike years past, the league saw some big names relocate from struggling franchises onto playoff contending teams which is not only great for those organization’s playoff hopes, but its great for the NBA as well. Maybe for one month now we can forget about how overpaid Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks are and focus on the fact that there is actually a race going on in the West this year for the top spot in the playoffs, and the best team is the league, the Celtics, are coming out of the East. Who would have thought?

A huge winner in this years’ trade deadline has to be the L.A. Lakers. Landing Pau Gasol makes them instantly a Western Conference finalist contender. The Lakers have gone 8-1 since they acquired the big man, and that is without a healthy C Andrew Bynum. Pretty much all they had to do to get Gasol was give up Kwame Brown, yea remember him, first pick in the 2001 draft (HA!). That may go down as the worst first pick in the history of the NBA draft, but regardless, dishing him out to Memphis was brilliant because his contract expires at the end of the year anyway.

Another huge trade that was really unexpected, and at this point no one knows how it will pan out for either team, was the Shaquille O’Neal trade to the Phoenix Suns. Shaq is averaging career lows in points and rebounds, hasn’t been completely healthy for two years, and is going to be 36-years old in a few weeks. The Suns gave up former all-star power forward Shawn Marion and a talented point-guard in Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in exchange for O’Neal. The former league MVP leaves the team with the worst record in the NBA to join the Suns who have the 2nd best record in the West. If neither team makes out in the deal, the person who did was Shaq.

Ben Wallace has found a new place to call home… again. The defensive specialist joins Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after he was dealt from the Chicago Bulls for four players in total including Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. The Cavs also traded for Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith so the team chemistry may be off for a few weeks, but hopefully they begin to click before the playoffs. The moves they made are definitely an upgrade, but you may not see the results this season.

The biggest name to move right before the deadline may have been future hall of fame point guard Jason Kidd. Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in an eight player deal that left the New Jersey Nets hurting…even more then they had already been, but with $3 million dollars more in their pockets. The deal also left the Mavs excited for the second half of the season to get underway with Kidd running the show. Mavericks GM Mark Cuban finally got something he wanted, if he couldn’t buy the Cubs, well at least he could buy Jason Kidd… like Jay-Z really needs the money!

Some other moves that were made that wouldn’t be considered blockbuster deals, but are definitely worth mentioning include the San Antonio Spurs landing PF/C Kurt Thomas from the Seattle Supersonics. It’s not a flashy name, but a good move for the Spurs who needed some more size to compete with Shaq and Gasol who they will now be seeing more often playing in the West.

Mike Bibby was traded to the Atlanta Hawks which is an upgrade at point guard from Tyronne Lue who is now with the Sacramento Kings, and the move shows that Atlanta still has signs of life in them and wants to try and sneak in the eight and final spot for the Eastern Conference playoffs. They will need to play better basketball on the road where they are currently at a pathetic 6-19, but Bibby’s leadership could help turn that around.

So when all is said and done with, who were the biggest winner and loser after this year’s trading deadline?

Biggest Loser: The Minnesota Timberwolves – They traded away Gerald Green whom they had just traded for in the off-season when they gave away Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. It seems like this team has been rebuilding for ten years now, and its not going to stop anytime soon.

Biggest Winner: The Los Angeles Lakers – Pau Gasol is going to take a little pressure off of Kobe Bryant, help their team defense, and be the spark to drive the Lakers to the top spot in the Pacific Division. They didn’t give up hardly anything, and they became instant contenders with his addition.

The final two months of the NBA season are going to be filled with lots of action so make sure to contact Ace Ticket if you want to be there and a part of it all!

If the rumors prove to be true, Shaquille O’Neal will be heading to the Phoenix Suns in a trade that no one saw coming. The Miami Heat have agreed to trade O’Neal to the Suns in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. The deal is pending an O’Neal physical later in the day today.

Many are wondering why the Suns would make this deal considering Shaq’s age, contract, and decline in production. Shaq is averaging career lows with 14.2 points a game and 7.8 rebounds a game. In a year where he will turn 36, Shaq is also a constant injury risk. The apparent upside is that Shaq will be reinvigorated when he’s playing with a contender. Time will tell.