Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 56 points to help the Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 117-107 at the Footprint Center Saturday evening.
The Celtics entered the competition on a rare two-game loss without Kristaps Porzingis, who I missed the match with tension in the right hamstrings.
While Brown scored 18 points in the first half, Tatum only had seven, which is unusual. Tatum would find his rhythm and finish with 29 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to secure the victory for Boston.
“I finally stopped turning the ball over,” Tatum told ESPN’s Lisa Salters, as shown in ABC’s postgame coverage. “I’m grateful to have great teammates because I sucked tonight.”
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Tatum pulled down 10 rebounds for his 23rd double-double this season.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said he saw better game management and discipline from his team and thought the bench was important for Boston.
“They were great. They were great,” Mazzulla told reporters, as shown in NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “I thought Payton (Pritchard) changed the whole game with his defense .Both him and Sam (Hauser) are known for their offensive players and I think it’s their defense that really helped us this year.
The Boston bench outscored the Phoenix bench 27-16 in the game, with Luke Kornet leading the way with 14 points. Al Horford started for the injured Porzingis. He had 12 rebounds to go along with his nine points.
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The Celtics improved to 49-14 overall and have yet to lose three in a row this season. Boston will continue its five-game road trip when the team travels to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers on Monday night.
