Recap: Boston Celtics Blowout Phoenix Suns
By Jeremy Karll
The Phoenix Suns came into this game as one of the coldest teams in the NBA, especially defensively. The Boston Celtics showed that to be true as they scored 117 points in a blowout win, 117-103.
A big part of the Celtics dominance was the balance attack that they had tonight. Everyone contributed on offense and defense. Seven players for Boston scored ten or more points, including a team high 21 from Kelly Olynyk.
Isaiah Thomas only played 24 minutes tonight, sitting the entire second and fourth quarters. This is great news for the Celtics; one because it shows they can dominate a bad team without their best player, and two because they have another game tomorrow night against John Wall and the Washington Wizards.
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Marcus Smart got the load at point guard for Boston tonight. He played 33 minutes tonight and was easily the player of the game, recording his first career triple-double. Smart recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Avery Bradley stole the show in the first half however. He had 17 points in the game, but started shooting poorly in the second half. He finished 7-21 in the game as he missed a lot of open jump shots. He shut down a hot shooting Devin Booker tonight though. Booker was held scoreless in the first half but finished with 9 points on 2-9 shooting.
The game started out tight but the Celtics were able to pull away towards the end of the quarter, leading 36-29. Isaiah Thomas and Amir Johnson were working well together early. Thomas had 9 points and 4 assists in the first quarter and seemed to be on his way to another monster game. The whole team shot well in the first quarter and Phoenix couldn’t keep up, showing why they have struggled so much this season.
Markieff Morris had 7 points and Tyson Chandler had 6 points for the Suns in the first quarter, but neither continued to have good games for the Suns.
Boston struggled on defense midway through the second quarter. They allowed Phoenix to gain confidence and get within four points (46-42), before Brad Stevens called a timeout. They upped the defensive intensity after the timeout and started forcing turnovers. Although, the game was blown open when Olynyk hit three straight three-pointers and had 13 straight points for the Celtics. Boston ended the half on a 22-5 run, giving them a huge 68-47 lead at the half.
The Celtics didn’t outplay the Suns in the second half, but didn’t get outplayed either. Stevens did a good job knowing when to call timeouts to control little runs the Suns went on. The Celtics were always able to answer the runs and do enough to keep the lead out of reach from the Suns. They didn’t play great but good enough that the lead was never in jeopardy, which is what you want to do with a big lead.
Mirza Teletovic started going off for Phoenix in the third quarter, hitting two three’s and getting fouled on another. He finished with 22 points and was the main reason Phoenix didn’t lose by more.
Jared Sullinger rebounded the ball well in the third quarter and even added a couple of baskets. Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas made sure the Celtics didn’t lose the lead, although Phoenix did outscore Boston by three in the third quarter.
Towards the end of the quarter Boston had a lot of fouls. It was a little concerning that it might continue to be a problem in the fourth quarter and Phoenix would get back in the game that way. It wasn’t the case and Boston had a healthy 96-78 lead at the end of the third.
The Suns surprisingly lead the league in fourth quarter scoring, averaging 27.0 points per game in the fourth quarter. Boston was missing a lot of shots to start the fourth quarter which let Phoenix go on a 9-4 run before a three by Marcus Smart stopped it.
Phoenix refused to go down easily, but two three-pointers by Jonas Jerebko put the game away for good as the Celtics led 110-90 halfway through the quarter.
James Young and R.J. Hunter got to see the last minute of action for the Celtics. I was hoping the Celtics would come out strong in the fourth quarter so they could see 3-5 minutes tonight but that wasn’t the case. James Young committed a foul but that is the only thing that will show up on their stat lines.
The Boston Celtics improved to 21-19 and 11-10 at home. They take on the Washington Wizards tomorrow night at 6:30 in Washington DC.