Suns win second straight on brutal road trip

When the Phoenix Suns left town for this current five game road trip which consisted of San Antonio, Chicago, New York, Boston and Dallas, many believed it would be a make or break stretch of the schedule. 

After two bad losses to start the trip, the Suns seem to have regained control of the wheel now winning their second straight game with a 79-71 win over the Celtics.

The Suns arrived at the TD Garden in Boston coming off an impressive all-around win against the Knicks needing to play with the same amount of intensity defensively. They did that and then some.

The Suns held the Celtics to 41% shooting and only 71 points and were able to do so for a few reasons. 

Grant Hill.

Hill in the last two games held Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce to a combined 10 of 36 shooting (27%) and 26 points. Not bad for the second oldest player in the league.

Ronnie Price.

Price got his second straight start and drew the assignment of chasing around Ray Allen. While Allen had a team high 14, he also had a team high five turnovers and Allen was never really able to get into a flow.

Sebastian Telfair even came in and brought a lot of intensity to the defensive end getting two steals and aided in the as a team not allowing the Celtics to score a FG in the fourth quarter until the 8:14 mark.

Despite the win, it was not exactly a pretty one for the Suns. They had a season high 21 turnovers and did only score 79 points on 44.5% shooting. That is the first time the Suns have won scoring less that 80 points since 2002 when they beat Denver 75-72.

Marcin Gortat had a special night going toe-to-toe with Kevin Garnett. Gortat scored the Suns final 14 points to close out the first quarter. He finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds. The 24 points ties a season high and he recorded his seventh consecutive double double.

The Suns bench was special as well. 

One game after being held scoreless for the first time this season in New York, Jared Dudley bounced back with a strong effort with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds off the bench.

Playing the plus minus game. When on the floor, Shannon Brown was +13, Dudley was +10 and Telfair again, was +9.

In a stretch of road games in which many had thought the Suns would go winless, they have a chance to finish above .500 as they close out the road trip against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

For more on the Suns, follow Jared Cohen on twitter at @JaredPros2Preps.