NBA regular season

Suns hand Celtics first double-digit home loss

Reuters

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Suns hand Celtics first double-digit home loss

SWAT. Suns forward Ish Wainright blocks a shot by Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters

The shorthanded Suns stun the league-leading Celtics, catching Jayson Tatum on a poor shooting night

Despite having a thin bench, the Phoenix Suns used a strong fourth quarter to pick up a 106-94 road win against the Boston Celtics on Friday night, February 3 (Saturday, February 4, Manila time).

The Celtics outscored the Suns, 29-17, in the third quarter and trailed, 74-73, with 12 minutes to play, but Phoenix began the fourth with a 14-2 run. The Celtics never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

Mikal Bridges led the Suns with 25 points. Chris Paul scored 15 to go with 8 assists and 6 rebounds, and Dario Saric (14 points, game-high 13 rebounds) and Deandre Ayton (14 points, 10 boards) both logged double-doubles.

In addition to missing Devin Booker, who hasn’t played since Christmas due to a groin injury, the Suns were without Cameron Johnson (knee), Cameron Payne (foot), and Landry Shamet (foot).

Boston’s Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 27 points and added 8 rebounds. Jayson Tatum had a poor shooting night, hitting 3-of-15 from the floor en route to 20 points, and Derrick White added 19 points.

The Celtics dropped to 20-7 at home. It was their first home loss by double digits this season.

Boston shot 10-of-38 (26.3%) from three-point range and committed 15 turnovers. Phoenix hit 12-of-32 (37.5%) from beyond the arc and gave the ball away only nine times.

Although the Suns missed their first nine shots, they held a 24-20 lead after one quarter. Phoenix trailed 7-0 until an Ayton layup got the Suns on the scoreboard with 7:35 left in the quarter. That was the start of a 12-0 run that gave Phoenix a lead it didn’t relinquish.

The Suns led by 20 points after Paul made a three-pointer with 3:55 remaining in the second quarter, but Boston responded with an 11-0 run that cut the deficit to 53-44. Phoenix had a 57-44 advantage at halftime.

Tatum didn’t score until he sank a triple with 3:35 left in the second quarter, and he was limited to 6 points in the first half. – Rappler.com

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