Jayson Tatum (23 points) had one of his best offensive performances in a Celtic uniform and Al Horford (19 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), leading the visitors to their fourth straight win in a 102-94 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Boston led by as many as 20 points in the first half, but managed to blow that advantage just over a quarter later after letting their guard down against the Suns young duo of Justin Jackson (23 points) and Tyler Ulis (19 points, eight assists). The C's tightened things up defensively though after a couple early second-half timeouts by Brad Stevens, which helped the C's build a double-digit lead once again and cruise to a run-of-the-mill win over a tanking Phoenix team. The Suns have now lost 12 straight games after the defeat.
The C's are now 3-0 on the team's four-game west coast road trip but they could be down another player for the finale in Utah on Wednesday night. Marcus Morris left the game in the third quarter with a sprained right ankle, the same ankle he sprained during Friday's win against Portland. He scored 20 points before exiting the win.
GAME: No. 74 of 82
WHO: Celtics (50-23) vs. Suns (19-55)
WHEN: 10:00 p.m.
WHERE: Talking Stick Resort Arena
RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub
TV: NBC Sports Boston
Celtics
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Aron Baynes
Suns
PG: Elfrid Payton
SG: Troy Daniels
F: Josh Jackson
F: Marquese Chriss
C: Dragan Bender
First Half Notes
- This one was a tale of two quarters early on. The Celtics starting lineup came out flying out of the gate. No one on the Suns could do anything offensively, outside of Josh Jackson, who scored the first 11 points for Phoenix.
- The C's starters clamped down on the perimeter against a mismatched Suns lineup full of subpar 3-point shooters. They pushed the lead to as many as 20, led by some impressive aggression by Jayson Tatum (four straight makes to start game) and some unselfish play by Al Horford (nine points, five assists).
- The focus of the game by the C's started to change though once they went to their bench unit. Offense started to get harder to produce (3s weren't falling) and that frustration appeared to produce a letdown on defense as well.
- Tyler Ulis energized the Suns' reserves with some playmaking in the paint (five assists) and the Suns' shooters started hitting some open looks in the final few minutes, trimming a 20-point deficit to three.
- Too much shooting by Terry Rozier in the first half (2-of-10 from field) trying to recreate his scoring magic from Sunday night in Sacramento.
- A surprising underwhelming performance early from Shane Larkin, who missed all three shots and struggled to contain Ulis on the defensive end.
- Marcus Morris showed no signs of a sore ankle, but hitting his first three buckets on jump shots.
- With three games in three cities over four nights, second half should be a challenge for C's to maintain discipline on both ends and pull this out.
- Another lackluster effort from Greg Monroe thus far, who isn't showing much energy against his former mates. He should be taking more advantage of undersized frontline like the Suns have.
- Marcus Morris (sprained ankle) is a game-time decision. He missed Sunday's win against the Suns to rest the injury suffered during Friday's game against the Blazers.
- The Celtics have played themselves back within striking distance of the top seed in the Eastern Conference. A win on Monday night would put them just three games back of the Raptors with two head-to-head matchups looming over the next ten days.
- The Suns are expected to have sharpshooting guard Devin Booker back in the lineup for tonight's matchup after miss the past four games with a sprained right hand.
- Phoenix is currently in sole possession of the worst record in the NBA after rolling off 11 consecutive losses. They've lost nine of those games by double-digit deficits.
