Sports writing, Feb 6 (EFE) .- Phoenix Suns (12-9) measures its growth this season in the ‘NBA Sundays’ (8:00 p.m. CET) against Boston Celtics (12-9) with whom they share a record and they come after beating one of the favorites to the title, the Los Angeles Clippers (115-119) with a great game from their main star, the young Jayson Tatum who scored 34 points.
This initiative of the North American basketball league, which also includes the ‘NBA Saturdays’, consists of broadcasting matches in European prime time to get closer to the fans of the Old Continent. For the first half of the season, 20 games are scheduled.
This time the match is disputed by two franchises that have great young talent, but are looking to take that last step to really be in the fight for the title. A historic one, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers as the most awarded in history (17 champion rings), like the Celtics and another like the Suns that has recovered after a long reconstruction.
The Arizona team wanted to surround its great star, Devin Booker – once chosen for the all-star game – with, finally, a team that would compete for real. Therefore, and after an 8-0 in the bubble that put them on the map, they sought the experience of Chris Paul, instead of the Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, and Jae Crowder, who faces one of his former teams.
And this reaction has come. The Suns occupy the fifth position of the difficult Western Conference and aspire to return to the ‘playoffs’ for the first time since the 2009-2010 season, where they lost in the final against the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, in the end champions.
Two years earlier it was the Celtics who won the title, the first since the Larry Bird era, and the last in a historic franchise that has the wits to get back in position to fight for the title with Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but that it hasn’t made it past the Eastern Conference finals they lost to LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018.
Two teams that want to take that last step to be among the candidates for the title, in a season that is expected to be open, and that arrive in good shape after winning their last games.
The game that will be played at the TD Garden in Boston (Massachusetts) will begin at 10:30 p.m. 3:00 a.m. CET and can be seen live through the NBA League Pass platform, where you can follow all the games of the season . EFE
–
