Suns-Celtics updates: Phoenix gets routed by Jaylen Brown, Boston's 3-point spree
The Phoenix Suns (38-28) were blown out, 127-112, by the NBA's top team in the Boston Celtics (52-14) on Thursday.
Boston swept the two-game season series against Phoenix, extending the team's win streak to four.
The Celtics' Jaylen Brown had the game-high 37 points, including draining five of their season-high 25 from the arc. That's two shy of Boston's single-game all-time high from deep, hitting 50% of their 3-point attempts. Jayson Tatum scored 26, and their veteran big Al Horford had 24 as he tied his career-high six made treys.
After the Suns had an early nine-point lead, they trailed since the closing seconds of the first quarter, and the margin ballooned to 20 in the third. Four of Phoenix's starters scored at least 20 points, including Devin Booker's team-high 23, Bradley Beal's 22, Kevin Durant's and Grayson Allen's 20 each.
Phoenix plays the third of its four-game road trip at the Charlotte Hornets at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Analysis: For Suns, Celtics are very bad matchup: Takeaways from Phoenix's loss
Suns have no answers for Celtics in 3rd quarter
Boston blew the game wide open in the third, and leads 102-85 going into the final period.
The Celtics pushed the game’s largest margin to 20 on the fifth 3 nailed by Al Horford (19 points) at 2:45 in the third. Phoenix continued to have trouble defending the 3, as the Celtics have hit 20-of-39, including eight made in the period. In contrast, the Suns have made 10-of-25 from the perimeter.
Boston's scored 16 points off Phoenix's 12 turnovers, whereas Phoenix has only managed six points from Boston's seven turnovers.
Kevin Durant (18 points) has been relatively quiet since his hot 7-for-8 shooting start. He scored just three points in the third, breaking his field-goal drought at 5:40 after going 0-for-8 since there were 38 seconds left in the first.
Suns' Bol sparks off bench; Celtics hold lead at halftime
The Boston 3-party continued through the second quarter, hitting 12 from deep in the first half, and the Celtics led the Suns 65-60 at halftime.
The Celtics' elite duo did much of the damage. Jaylen Brown scored 15 of his 20 points (8-of-13 FG overall) and Tatum shot 6-of-8 FG in the second (9-of-11 total) for his game-high 23 points.
Bol Bol scored all of his 10 points, including two treys, off the bench for Phoenix in the second quarter.
Devin Booker has struggled, shooting just 3-of-11, and has eight points for the Suns.
Durant hot for Suns, Tatum leads Celtics in 1st quarter
Durant is on a 7-for-8 start for 15 points to lead all scorers, despite Phoenix being down 35-32 entering the second quarter.
Beal has nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, and Boston's Tatum has a team-high 14, hitting 6-of-9.
The Suns reached their biggest lead eight at 4:13 left, but the Celtics' 7-of-11 made 3s letting them regain the lead approaching the final minute.
Suns at Celtics starting lineups
The Suns will have their usual starters Friday night in Boston, with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal sharing the backcourt, Grayson Allen and Kevin Durant at the three and four spots, and Jusuf Nurkic in the middle.
The Celtics are opening with Jrue Holiday running the point, shooting guard Derrick White, forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and center Al Horford.
Injury reports: Celtics' Brown in, Porzingis out
Boston’s Jaylen Brown (hip) has been upgraded from questionable to available, whereas the team’s starting center and third-best scorer Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring) is out for the fourth consecutive game.
Phoenix has its usual sixth man Eric Gordon (knee) has been downgraded from questionable to out, and backup forward Nassir Little (knee) is in after being probable. Josh Okogie (lower abdominal strain) and Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) are both out.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns-Celtics updates: Phoenix routed by Brown, Boston's 3-point spree