Suns look to improve defense against 3s, limit turnovers vs. top-ranked Celtics

The Phoenix Suns had a stroke of bad luck against the shamrock-logoed Boston Celtics last time they played at the Footprint Center on Dec. 7, 2022.

Phoenix got smoked, 125-98, and were down by as much as 45 points against the league's then-top team.

Boston (48-14) has been atop the league this entire season and on Saturday, returns to Phoenix, which has won two straight including its Thursday home win over Toronto.

Boston's led by its two All-Stars in MVP candidate Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

"Boston is electric. What can't they do? They have size. They have physicality. They have skill, talent, versatility," Bradley Beal said at the Suns' Friday practice. "They're the No. 1-rated offense, top five defensively. So they're the elite of the elite, No. 1 team in the NBA right now.

"It starts with Tatum. He's always in attack mode, three-level scorer. I think (starting center Kristaps) Porzingis is a great addition for them with his ability to be versatile, size and space, can shoot over guys, that's very tough to guard. JB's always been a great two-way guy, and then picking up Jrue (Holiday) and (Derrick) White playing at All-Star levels. We got our hands full, but it's a good test for us."

According to Suns coach Frank Vogel at their practice on Friday, Devin Booker (right ankle sprain) is likely doubtful against Boston, expected to miss his fourth straight game. The Suns' injury report Friday had him as questionable.

Beal has stepped in for Booker during the last two games, initiating the Suns' offense. Coach Frank Vogel praised Beal for "leading our team and quarterbacking" following their win over Toronto.

At the Suns practice on Friday, Vogel further explained how important Beal's role a penetrator and facilitator will be against Boston, the league's top offense and second-best defense.

"It's necessary. You gotta touch the paint," Vogel said at the Suns' practice on Friday about Beal's abilities as a penetrator. "You can do it through action, but they're really good with their switching. They take you out of a lot of the two-man action if you don't attack them intelligently. You can do that, but also in random action have somebody who can break his man down and get to the paint and is very lively."

Beal, the Suns' third-best scorer behind Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, had the team-high eight assists with his 20 points against Toronto, and has been averaging 22.3 points and 6.6 assists since Booker's been out. That's increased from his 18.2 points and 4.6 season averages.

The Celtics are known for piling on the score to beat their opponents. Their 120.8 points per game is head and shoulders above every other team. They have the largest average victory margin (10.9), and have three 50-point wins this season.

They do it by raining 3s, hoisting 16.2 made out of 42.2 attempts per game, both additional league-highs.

Phoenix ranks 18th in defending against treys made, 21st in stopping opponents' 3-point attempts and 12th in defensive rating.

"They got guys that shoot threes in your face and in step-back iso-situations," Vogel said.

Durant didn't fret about Boston's deep bombs when he was asked about Boston after Phoenix defeated Toronto.

"We just gotta play our brand of ball. Move the ball, take shots when they're there, try to keep the ball in our hands and not turn it over, and play physical defense," Durant said. "Everybody in the league shoots a lot of 3s. I feel like it’s an emphasis in every locker room to get at least 40 3s up a night.

"Boston may get 60 3s up, 50 3s up some nights, but they got guys who are 1 to 5 who can shoot 3s. We've had nights where we got a lot of shots up, made a lot of 3s with high efficiency, so we gotta just be ready to play our game, but it starts on the defensive side."

Durant added that Phoenix can't resort to "jack up a 3 because they jack up a 3" to compete against Boston.

Grayson Allen could be the answer to matching the Celtics' perimeter shooting though.

He's the league's top 3-point gunner at 47.5%, and has been on fire in the Suns' past two games hitting 16-of-28. That includes him nailing his first eight attempts in their Tuesday win at Denver, and getting another Suns' first-quarter record by draining seven against Toronto.

Allen explained how Beal's facilitation has opened him up from the arc, and he's "done a great job of pushing the pace and getting us down the court in our offense early," as has backup point guard Saben Lee.

The Suns are 15th on an average 99.46 pace. Without Booker in the lineup this past week, Beal’s increased that number to 124.47 in their past three games.

In addition, Allen said their 14 turnovers were too much against Toronto. The Suns rank 26th in turnovers committed.

"We'd still like to have less. Fourteen's a little high, but I do feel like we're getting better," Allen said. "Offensively, a lot of our turnovers come from just dead possessions where it's stagnant, there's nobody moving to help out the guy who has the ball and they get put in a tough spot where it's really hard to make a play or make the right play."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns look to improve defending 3s, lowering turnovers vs. Celtics