PHOENIX (AP) — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 25 points, Malcolm Brodgon added 16 points after coming off the bench and the Boston Celtics swept the Phoenix Suns 125-98 on Wednesday night.
The Celtics won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to an NBA-best 21-5. The Suns, who entered the game with the best record in the closely fought Western Conference, lost for the third time in four games.
The long-awaited duel between two of the best teams in the league did not come to pass, and the Celtics opened up a 45-point lead. The visitors led 31-21 after a quarter over the scoreless Suns who missed all eight 3-point attempts.
Boston kept adding to widen the lead in the second and made it 69-42 at halftime. Brown led the Celtics with 17 first-half points, while Tatum added 14. Grant Williams and Brogdon added 12.
The second half did not contribute much. Tatum hit a free throw with 7:01 left in the third to push Boston’s lead to 40.
Phoenix’s night was summed up in a third-quarter play in which Mikal Bridges, Chris Paul and Devin Booker tried to catch a loose ball and only managed to send it into the hands of Marcus Smart, who made an easy layup for Boston.
The Suns had back star Chris Paul, who missed 14 games with a sore right heel. That’s good news for the team’s long-term outlook, but it didn’t help much on Wednesday.
Josh Okogie led the Suns with a career-high 28 points off the bench, while Booker scored 17. Paul finished with four points, four rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes.
