Jaylen Brown added 24 points in 29 minutes in the victory while Al Horford chipped in with a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) while filling in for Tatum in the starting five. Kevin Durant had a team-high 30 points for the Suns but no other player on the Phoenix roster scored more than 14 points.
The Celtics now get two days off before continuing their road trip in San Antonio on Saturday night.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ win on Thursday night:
Celtics match franchise record from 3-point range in first quarter: The Suns defense (26th in NBA) has been dismal all year long and Boston put that on full display in the opening frame from the perimeter. The Celtics knocked down seven of their first nine shots from 3-point range in the opening five minutes of the game on their way to a matching a franchise record with 10 first quarter 3-pointers. Nearly all of those makes were wide open looks as the visitors constantly caught the Suns on late rotations along with lackluster closeouts all night against Boston’s elite shooters. Seven different players hit a 3-point shot in the frame, leading to 42 first quarter points, the team’s second highest first quarter of the year.
Double bigs help shut down Suns offense: The hosts were able to keep pace with Boston’s offense early, doing plenty of damage in the paint against some single big Celtics lineups. That calculus changed in the second quarter as Joe Mazzulla played two of Luke Kornet, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis for the entire frame. The Suns easy interior offense vanished at that point and some cold shooting from 3-point range helped the Celtics build up a double-digit advantage thanks to a 20-2 run. Mazzulla stuck with that look for the entire third quarter as well, enabling Boston to quickly turn what had been a close first quarter in a rout.
Jaylen Brown’s knee looks just fine: The All-Star forward had his second game back following a three-game absence due to a knee issue. He admittedly help back in a rather ordinary outing against the Kings on Monday night but he did not hold back on national television Wednesday. Brown put together a terrific all-around offensive effort, knocking down four 3s while showing off a couple impressive bully ball moves down low including a monster dunk. Brown’s health is at the forefront of things for Celtics fans to worry about at the end of this regular season but this performance should put everyone at ease.
Celtics road domination is reaching new levels: Boston didn’t just win their seventh straight game on Wednesday night. Instead, they are putting together a historic franchise for the season on the road. Boston’s win on Wednesday night gives them 14 victories in their last 15 road games with their only blemish coming against the Pistons on February 27. According to Sean Grande, that’s the first time the Celtics have achieved that feat in 60 years while improving their road mark to 30-7 on the year. Boston still has a chance of setting a franchise record for road wins if they win out on their remaining four road games.
