Final: Celtics 116, Suns 109 -- C's rally from 22 down for win

PHOENIX -- The Celtics nearly ran out of time for their frantic fourth-quarter push, but a clutch 3-point shot by Marcus Morris with 0.3 seconds forced overtime, allowing the C's to rally from 22 points down to a 116-109 at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Thursday night. Devin Booker had 21 of his 38 points in the second half, but he couldn't outduel Kyrie Irving who scored a season-high 39 points, 26 of which came in the second half.

The victory came despite Boston having their worst offensive half of the year (21 percent shooting before the break). The performance led to Marcus Smart getting the start over Jayson Tatum in the second half, but it was not until late when the C's rallied from 14 down in the final 3:31 that things turned around the green.

Boston improves to 1-2 with the win on their road trip with a back-to-back looming against the Jazz on Friday night without Kyrie Irving.

Second Half Notes

• Marcus Smart starts the second half in place of Jayson Tatum, who went 0-of-4 in first half.


• Energy improves on the defensive end almost immediately for the C's who also start hitting a respectable number of shots.


• Big offensive quarters from Booker (9 of his 19 points) helps keep the Suns offense ticking though, preventing the C's from getting any closer than 14p oints throughout the frame.


• Semi Ojeleye gets minutes at center ahead of Aron Baynes in the second half, after Guerschon Yabusele got a chance at some big minute in the second half.


• Offense can't seem to put more than two or three solid possessions together at this point. Still looking out of sync as a whole and that's carried over to some underwhelming defensive possessions in which C's defenders bite too hard on shot fakes and get caught out of rotations.

• C's open up with their worst quarter of the season, getting outscored by 19 by the Suns.


• Brutal offense started with starters, who missed 10 straight shots after an opening 3 from Kyrie. Many of the attempts were quality looks from 3 or at the rim, but the rim seemed to have a lid over it.


• The C's defense was steady at first but started to come off the rails midway through the frame as TJ Warren (14 points) got going against the second unit.


• Booker and Ayton chipped in with a combined 15 points as well, as the Suns found themselves breaking down the C's defense towards the end of the shot clock with their dribble penetration and ball movement.


• Starters combined to shoot 2-of-14 from field in first, with the entire team going 18 percent from the field.


• The carnage continued in the second quarter, even as Stevens turned to his bench more with the starters not named Irving struggling mightily (0/15 FG).


• Guerschon Yabusele gets some run with no success. Terry Rozier, Tatum and Brown continuinally hoist up midrange jumpers without success.


• Only things C's did well is get to the free throw line and that's because Suns foolishly got into the penalty midway through the second quarter.


• The overall carnage? 21 percent shooting and 10 turnovers.

• Gordon Hayward will be in action tonight and plans to play both halves of a back-to-back that concludes with a trip to Utah on Friday night.


• The Suns have the worst offense in the NBA through 10 games, in large part thanks to the combination of poor shooting (22th overall in 3-point shooting) and sloppy play (30th in turnovers).


• Only two of Boston's next eight opponents (Chicago is the other) are not expected to be playoff teams, highlighting the toughest stretch of the season for Boston from a schedule standpoint.