PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns were outscored by the Boston Celtics on Saturday in a 117-107 final that, in the grand scheme of things, had little to do with the talent disparity between the two teams.
The NBA’s best Celtics have been great on the margins, like all elite teams, and that, plus some smart tactical choices to capitalize on the absence of Devin Booker (sprained right ankle), have made the difference.
Boston led the way in points off turnovers (16-8) and second-chance points (17-8).
“I thought we fought,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel said. “I was proud of the way we fought. I didn’t like how many loose balls we didn’t recover early in the game and how we bounced back. Gotta have better urgency against the team with the best record in the NBA, but I thought we caught up and played a spirited game the rest of the way.
The Celtics were using a “let them beat you” approach on defense, trying as hard as possible not to help shooters and instead allowing Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant to get into 1-on-1 matchups and cover the traditional ball screen without much. -portion.
After Grayson Allen made a total of 16 3-pointers over the last two games, Boston’s design wasn’t going to have any of that anymore. Because of the number of 3s it takes alone, the most in the league, the Celtics were going to win this part of the math battle and be in the clear unless Phoenix’s two healthy stars absolutely became crazy.
Durant burned that, shooting 18 of 26 for a game-high 45 points with 10 rebounds, six assists and six turnovers. He was magnificent. Beal continued more in the second half to shoot 10 of 20 for 25 points with four assists and a turnover, a very good game for him.
But that was not enough.
Stays with the starters for both teams included Boston wing Jaylen Brown defending Jusuf Nurkic, a successful effort to limit the number of plays in which Nurkic was involved as a hub. If Nurkic took a check or made a handoff, Brown would simply change him to negate the benefits. Phoenix’s Royce O’Neale became the primary observer for most of those minutes as he was defended by Boston’s Al Horford.
And in lineups early in the second and fourth quarters that have plagued the Suns so much this year, Boston often placed expert defender Jrue Holiday over center, effectively ending Phoenix’s primary pick plays as neither team intentionally wanted to put Holiday in the game. Because the Suns play Bol Bol at 4 in these looks, it allowed Boston to deploy their big on him. Suns backup center Drew Eubanks was -20 in 11 minutes.
“We had times where it was mediocre, but it’s a unique defense to play against and I thought for the most part our guys had playoff-like intelligence to try to put the right people in the good deed,” Vogel said of that.
Vogel’s final effort to neutralize that proved modest with Bol at 5 early in the fourth quarter, taking into account potential repercussions elsewhere, such as on the glass where a giant Celtics team is doing well (fourth in REB%). Nurkic remained on the bench in place of Eric Gordon when the starters returned.
Boston was essentially betting on taking hits from Beal and Durant’s outbursts well through its own consistency over the course of a complete game. Phoenix cut the deficit to five and three points in the third quarter, only for Boston to quickly regain its advantage in a safer location.
The Suns managed to organize these mini-rallies from failures or turnovers by the Celtics, but Boston put the biscuit in the basket enough that it was not sustainable. Jayson Tatum’s mismatch look on the switches for the Celtics increased their advantage in the fourth to 15 before it collapsed and Phoenix found itself within five again with 3:55 remaining.
The Celtics then had three more scoreless trips, but one Durant missed 3 in semi-transition on a decent look, another Durant missed a triple that was more of a save attempt, and Eric Gordon’s open corner 3 which did not fall was the Phoenix writ. window. After Gordon missed, Horford drilled his own open corner 3 to put Boston back up eight with 1:54 to play. That was it.
“They stay home on 3s a lot, too, so you have to figure out where your shot is going to come from if you just can’t catch and shoot,” Durant said. “They have a solid strategy there. It’s one of those strategies where they can play a bad game at the start, but as the match goes on it will come back for them and I think that’s what happened. At the end of the match, they made a few shots.
These two decisions are an example of what awaits Phoenix in the playoffs, where the better teams will have more precision to exploit their weaknesses. And that’s one of the consequences of Booker’s absence, in addition to not having the contributions of one of the best players in the world. These are the types of game plans the Suns could beat quite effectively if they were also on their P’s and Q’s all night, the type of consistency they lack.
Boston also wasn’t at full strength without Kristaps Porzingis (right hamstring strain). That now improves to 14-3 when sitting, so obviously not quite the same as Phoenix’s 6-8 mark without Booker.
Tatum wasn’t very efficient, 11 of 28 for 29 points, but made big plays in 42 minutes and added 10 rebounds, seven assists and four turnovers. Brown’s 27 points (10 of 21) were essential. Boston was 15 of 39 (38.5%), 3 to Phoenix 9 of 31 (29%).
Allen (3 of 8) and O’Neale (1 of 9) struggled to make shots because of the way Boston was cutting off the Suns’ ball movement.
Booker was reclassified as questionable on Friday’s injury report, generating even more optimism that his return is nearing. Phoenix flies to Cleveland on Sunday to face a short-handed Cavaliers team the next day before the second round against Boston on Thursday. If everything goes well with Booker’s ankle during his trip, draw him one of these two devices.
