BOSTON – The Phoenix Suns have gone from championship aspirations to assuring themselves a losing record after falling to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, 123-103, Friday, April 4, at TD Garden.
The Suns (35-42) hadn’t posted a losing record since the 2019-20 season that ended in the Orlando bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phoenix closed that season on an improbable 8-0 run in the bubble and nearly made the playoffs.
The Suns reached the 2020-21 NBA Finals the next season and established the NBA’s best mark in 2021-22 with a franchise-record 64 wins.
They’re a long way from those glorious years as the Suns are 11th in the West this season and running out of time to land in the play-in tournament.
They trail Sacramento for the 10th seed in the West by two games with five remaining. The Kings (37-40) defeated Charlotte, 125-102. Phoenix has lost its past five games after winning four in a row.
Devin Booker paced the Suns with a game-high 37 points while Jaylen Brown scored 31 points to lead the Celtics (57-20), who swept the home-away season series over Phoenix.
Suns down by as many as 23 points, Booker with 30
The Phoenix Suns faced their largest deficit in the third quarter of Friday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Trailing by as many as 23 points, the Suns enter the fourth quarter down, 90-75.
Devin Booker has 30 points to lead the Suns, who, with a loss, will be guaranteed to finish with a losing record for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Bradley Beal has just one point, going 0-of-6 from the field (0-of-3 from 3) as he’s returning from a left hamstring strain that sidelined him eight games. He has four rebounds and three assists, but Beal looks rusty, stiff and completely out of rhythm.
Jaylen Brown paces the Celtics with 27 points. He had been listed as questionable with a knee injury. Jayson Tatum has 17 points.
Celtics set NBA record for made 3s, lead Suns at half
The Suns trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half as they’re down 60-47 at the break. The Celtics went on a 23-4 run to take a 46-26 lead with 7:51 left in the half.
Boston has set an NBA record for most made 3s in a season as they passed Golden State, which had the previous record of 1,363 in the 2022-23 season.
The Celtics reached 1,364 as they hit eight 3s in the first half.
Phoenix pulled within 11 points late in the first half before Jayson Tatum scored to make the difference 13 at the break.
Devin Booker leads the Suns with 16 points while rookie Oso Ighodaro added 10 points as he got the start over Nick Richards.
Jaylen Brown has a game-high 17 points for the Celtics. Kristaps Porzingis has 14 points while Tatum has 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Booker fast start, Celtics answer
Devin Booker did score a career-high 70 points in this building.
The star guard hit his first four shots in scoring 10 points in the first quarter Friday night, but Phoenix still is having issues defending the 3 against Boston as they trail 31-22 after one.
Booker missed his next four shots, but he has three assists. The Suns are 9-of-24 from the field, going 3-of-9 on 3s.
Boston started 4-of-6 from 3 Friday night. The Celtics hit seven of their first nine from 3 in last week’s 30-point win over the Suns in Phoenix.
The Celtics went on an 11-2 run in building a 23-15 advantage and closed the quarter on an 8-0 spurt in building their largest lead of the game of nine points. They are 5-of-12 on 3s.
Bradley Beal is back in the starting lineup after missing eight games with a left hamstring strain. Two-way player Collin Gillespie had been starting for Beal.
That was expected, but the Suns are also starting rookie Oso Ighodaro for Nick Richards at center. Richards looked lost in defending the Celtics in last week’s 30-point loss as he wasn’t close to contesting Kristaps Porzingis from 3. Boston went 22-of-52 from deep against the Suns in a 132-102 win.
So, Mike Budenholzer has made the adjustment. Ighodaro is more adept at defending guards on the perimeter on switches and sticking with Boston’s centers, Al Horford and Porzingis. Those two combined to go 6-of-12 on 3s in Boston’s win over Phoenix as Porzingis shot 4-of-5.
The Suns are starting Devin Booker, rookie Ryan Dunn, Royce O’Neale, Beal and Ighodaro. O’Neale and Dunn are more defensive minded than Grayson Allen, who started on April 1 against Milwaukee. The Bucks went 17-of-29 from 3 in their 133-123 win over Phoenix. Richards had started 32 of his 33 games with the Suns, who acquired him in a deal with Charlotte before the trade deadline. He didn’t start in his Suns debut Jan. 18 at Detroit, then started his next 32 games.
Boston is starting guards Derrick White and Jrue Holliday, forwards Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, and Porzingis in the middle.
Injury report: Kevin Durant out, Jaylen Brown available
Kevin Durant remains out with a sprained left ankle. He’s back in Phoenix and won’t join the team on the road trip that ends on April 6 in New York. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Durant is making “good progress,” but hasn’t done any on-court work yet.
Bradley Beal is set to play after missing eight games with a left hamstring strain. Two-way players Jalen Bridges and TyTy Washington Jr. also are listed out as they played for Phoenix’s G League team, Valley Suns, in the G League playoffs. The Valley Suns were eliminated Thursday, April 3, by Stockton Kings.
Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown (right knee posterior impingement) has been upgraded from questionable to available for the April 4 game.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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