Inside the Celtics' latest defensive masterpiece from both teams' perspectives

Tuesday night at the Mortgage Matchup Center, the Boston Celtics held the Phoenix Suns to 81 points, their second-lowest output this season. Granted, the hosts were without Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and several members of their supporting cast.

Still, they had enough talent on the floor to avoid an 11-point third period. However, the visitors delivered a defensive masterpiece in the 12 minutes after halftime.

Before diving into the keys to how they put the clamps on the Suns in the third frame, it's important to note that it started with the momentum Boston built midway through the second. That's when the Celtics dialed up the intensity, raised their pressure, and forced several turnovers. They held Phoenix to 35.3 percent shooting from the field, including a 3/9 performance from beyond the arc that quarter.

"I think it was the second, to be honest," said Suns head coach Jordan Ott when asked about what allowed the visitors to pull away in the third frame. "I think it was midway through the second that it shifted. We were all a little disappointed that we weren't going into halftime with the lead. They turned up the pressure in the middle of the second ... Then, you go in[to] the locker room a little bit disappointed where we were at.

"But you come out when you still have an opportunity to play for 24 more minutes. We just didn't come out -- we stayed in there. Tough third quarter, and we weren't just able to get out of our own way."

The keys to the Celtics' defensive masterpiece

It wasn't just the increased pressure by Boston, starting midway through the second quarter, that led to the visitors growing their lead as high as 28 points.

They expertly executed their drop coverage, with their perimeter players fighting over screens to challenge shots. Between that effort and some clean looks by Phoenix's reliable shooters, like Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen, which didn't go down, the Suns had to contend with a coverage that limited their options throughout the night.

"It felt like their game plan tonight was to stick to that drop and force us to play some two-on-two, or play against switching, and it made it tough," voiced Allen after the loss. "I think the guys who were on the ball most, me, Jalen [Green], and Collin [Gillespie], it didn't feel like we were able to create open looks for other people. And it kind of turned into a lot of two-on-two, with missing some threes early, we weren't able to shoot them out of the drop. They could just stay in it the whole game, and it's tough to create offense that way when they're just gonna live with the two-on-two, and we can't create advantages for anyone else on the perimeter."

Beyond stifling the Suns with their drop coverage, the Celtics did an excellent job of minimizing the opposition's free throws and second-chance opportunities. In the third quarter, Phoenix only had two free throws and one offensive rebound. That fed into the visitors outscoring them 30-11 in their best period of the contest.

After the Celtics' 97-81 victory, what Joe Mazzulla liked most about his team's defensive execution in the first 12 minutes after the intermission was their discipline.

"I thought they missed some easy ones, but I thought we did a good job just staying disciplined. They get back cuts, they get offensive rebounds, they get fouls. And I thought we were just very disciplined in the defensive game plan," conveyed Mazzulla. "We just didn't give up the easy stuff that they get with how well they execute at the offensive end. So, it was a really good quarter."

Of course, basketball is a complementary game. What happens on one side of the floor impacts what unfolds on the other. Sam Hauser buried a trio of triples in the third frame; Boston parlayed stops and turnovers into an 8-0 fast-break advantage, and put 30 points on the board.

"Limiting them to one shot was [a] great key in the third quarter," expressed Neemias Queta after the victory. "I felt like we did a pretty good job [of] contesting all of their looks. And then we ran. We were able to score pretty well in that third quarter. Sam got hot, and when he does that for us, our team just becomes so much different, and we need him to keep doing that type of stuff."

It was a formula that made it easier to set up the defense, play with tempo on offense to create advantageous opportunities repeatedly, and control the game. That's on top of the mental edge and impact of being in a better rhythm, which started growing midway through the second period.

It all created a cocktail that resulted in a defensive clinic by a Boston team with the best defensive rating in the NBA in its last 10 tilts. Already ranking second in offensive rating, it's a reflection of a group finding a lethal balance as the Celtics continue ramping up for the playoffs.