On a frigid night in Boston, the Celtics’ shooting hands couldn’t warm up. Despite the cold, the visiting Suns brought the heat from Phoenix and sizzled their way to a 106-94 win inside TD Garden. This game was a stark contrast to the Celtics’ season-best 43-point win over the Brooklyn Nets just two nights prior, when they shot 48.1 percent from deep. Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla felt the team got off to a good start defensively, but their lack of offensive intentions caused them to fall into a 20-point hole during the first half.
Despite this, the Celtics managed to cut their massive deficit down to one point at the end of the third quarter. However, the Suns opened the final frame on an 8-0 run, setting the tone for the remainder of the game. Jaylen Brown was one of the few hot spots for a cold Celtics team, logging game-highs of 27 points and three steals along with eight rebounds and four assists. He also climbed Boston’s all-time scoring leaderboard, passing Reggie Lewis into 19th place. Amazingly, Brown matched Lewis’ scoring total and games total, both at 7,902 points in exactly 450 career games.
The Celtics will have to wait until Monday night to answer for Friday’s loss, as they head to Detroit in search of their 38th win. It will be interesting to see if they can bounce back from this loss and make up the 400 points needed to pass Cedric Maxwell in 18th place on the all-time scoring leaderboard.
Source: www.nba.com