Following a very impressive win against the Clippers on Friday night, most were hoping that the Celtics (12-10) could build off that win when they faced the Suns on Super Sunday afternoon. That did not happen. The Suns (13-9) beat the Celtics 100-91 and Boston’s offense was nowhere to be found. To be fair, this Suns team is one of the best Suns teams that we have seen in a very long time. Chris Paul brought his veteran leadership that makes all of his teammates around him better when he was acquired this offseason and Devin Booker is one of the best scorers in the league. Those two alone should make this team a playoff team. On Sunday afternoon, the Suns showed why they are a playoff team and the Celtics showed that they need Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart back.
Phoenix played pretty good today. They had 5 players score in double digits and 6 players score 9+. Overall they shot 48% from the field and were a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Devin Booker, who is one of the rising stars in this league, had a stat line of 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists. The Celtics double teamed him a lot and almost every time, he always made the right read and found the open player. With players like Jae Crowder and Dario Saric out for today’s game, the Suns needed players like Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges to step up and they played great. They combined for 36 points on 13-23 shooting and 6-13 from 3. If they can give that effort every game, this Suns team will be scary come playoff time. Deandre Ayton played good for the Suns as well. He had 16 points and 11 rebounds on a very efficient 7-11 from the field. The Suns are now 13-9 on the season and 4th in the West.
It was not a pretty day for the Celtics on the offensive end. They shot 35% from the field and 16-49 from 2. That is not good and will not get you many wins in the NBA. One of the main Celtics players who struggled was Kemba Walker. Ever since coming back from his knee injury, he just has not been the Kemba we all know and love. We saw a glimpse of that in the 2nd half against the Clippers, but today he put up a stinker. He shot 4-20 from the field and 0-9 from 2. He did finish with 14 points and hit a couple big shots down the stretch, but overall it was just a bad game for him. Jayson Tatum played well, but he was not all that efficient as well. He had 23 points on 8-22 shooting and 7 assists. Tristan Thompson was great today on the boards, but he only played 21 minutes and did not play in crunch time in the 4th which confused me a little. The bench was probably the lone bright spot today. Payton Pritchard, Daniel Theis, and yes even Jeff Teague played good off the bench today and each scored in double digits.
This was an ugly loss for the Celtics, but the Suns are a very good team. They are still 2-2 on this road trip and a win on Tuesday against the NBA best Jazz would make this trip successful.
Next Game
Vs Utah Jazz, Tuesday, February 9th at 7:00PM
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