"Honestly, I'm trying to block it out to make the free throws, which is kind of sad," said Garnett of the chants. "But my MVP [Pierce] is sitting next to me."
Pierce then tapped Garnett on the back of his head and said, "You're my MVP, too."
Pierce is averaging a team-high 20.1 points along with 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. Garnett is averaging 19 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists.
Other MVP contenders include Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, New Orleans guard Chris Paul, Cleveland forward LeBron James, Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire, and Orlando forward Dwight Howard. But considering that Garnett is widely considered the main reason Boston went from a 24-win team last season to the one with the NBA's best record this season, Pierce makes a compelling argument that Garnett's candidacy goes beyond statistics.
"The whole face of Celtics Nation turned around when the trade happened with this guy," Pierce said. "Everyone talks about the MVP and they talk about numbers, but this guy has changed the whole culture around here, and I think that says a lot for everything. The mentality, to a day-to-day aspect, everything is changed from a year ago."
The Celtics (56-15) snapped a two-game skid overall and a five- game losing streak to the Suns. Boston is now 13-1 against the mighty Western Conference at home and 25-5 overall. The Celtics' magic number to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs is five.
All five Celtics starters scored at least 13 points. Stoudemire scored a game-high 32, while teammate Boris Diaw added 15 off the bench.
"[The Celtics] are a great team 1 through 12," said Suns center Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds. "Against a team put together like this, you almost have to do everything right, especially here in this building. You have to do everything right."
