Booker scores 39 as Suns win
BOSTON – Devin Booker led an offensive surge by the starters with 39 points in leading Phoenix to a 123119 win at Boston to close out a three-game road trip with two wins.
Booker nearly posted a triple double as he added 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The Suns’ starters accounted for 112 points with Mikal Bridges scoring a career-high 26 points, hitting 6of-8 from 3.
Deandre Ayton went for 26 points and 15 rebounds
as Phoenix outrebounded Boston, 52-39.
Marcus Smart scored a team-high 37 as he took 22 shots from 3, making 11.
Phoenix is 7-4 in its last 11 games, which matches how the Suns started the season in their first 11 games of the season.
The Celtics (27-14) were without leading scorer Kemba Walker (knee) and Jaylen Brown (thumb) while the Suns (1824) were missing Kelly Oubre Jr. for a second straight game as he’s under concussion protocol and rookie Cam Johnson (quad).
Mikal Bridges started again for Oubre.
Final score
Suns 123, Celtics 119 (TD Garden, 19,156, sellout)
Player of the game: Mikal Bridges
As quality as Booker’s near tripledouble performance was, Bridges hit timely 3s that included ones when Boston forced Booker to pass the ball out of the double.
Bridges has sacrificed the most for Phoenix, but has been playing his best basketball of the season right now.
Key moments
Fourth quarter: Dario Saric (Ayton assist) and Bridges (Booker assist out of double team) made back-to-back 3s off Booker assists to turn a slim five-point lead to an more comfortable 11-point advantage, 96-85, with 7:40 left in the game.
Boston trimmed that lead down to two after Tatum hit a 3 with 4.8 seconds left, but Booker closed out the game with two free throws with 4.8 seconds left.
Third quarter: Phoenix went into the fourth with a 87-76 lead as Booker scored nine in the quarter. Boston got within seven 77-70, but the Suns closed out the quarter on a 10-4 run with Booker scoring six of those points and assisting on Cheick Diallo’s dunk.
First half: Booker scored 22 points in leading Phoenix to 60-51 lead at the break. The Suns led by as many as 16 points in before Boston cut that margin down to two, 34-32.
Phoenix responded with a 7-0 spurt as Ayton scored five of those points.
The Celtics answered with an 8-2 spurt, but Phoenix closed the half on a 17-11 run to take nine-point halftime lead. Booker scored seven points in that run.
Smart kept Phoenix in it with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Six of his field goals were from 3 as he went 6-of-10 with the 3-ball.
What did we learn about the Suns tonight?
Devin Booker is making his all-star case with points and wins.
The Suns have won seven of their last 11 with Booker averaging 32 points during this stretch. He added 10 rebounds, nine assists and shot 14-of-15 from the line.
Again, when he gets to the line, he’s a different player.
Speaking of free throws, Deandre Ayton came into the game 13-of-17 from the line.
He went 10-of-11 tonight.
That offsets the 8-of-22 shooting and puts Phoenix in the bonus earlier.
Next game
San Antonio Spurs at Suns, 7 p.m, Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), Talking Stick Resort Arena.