Suns hang on to beat Celtics

Phoenix — Suns coach Monty Williams isn't usually demonstrative on the sideline so when he angrily called a timeout in the middle of the fourth quarter and visibly chided forward Deandre Ayton, it was a bit of a surprise.

Ayton didn't look thrilled by the outburst. But there was no doubt the message had been sent.

“He didn't like me getting on him,” Williams said. “But he took it the right way.”

Ayton responded with a few buckets and a blocked shot down the stretch, Devin Booker added 18 points and 11 assists and Phoenix stayed on a roll by beating the Boston Celtics 100-91 on Sunday.

Mikal Bridges led a balanced Suns offense with 19 points. Cam Johnson added 17 points off the bench while Ayton finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Phoenix improved to 13-9 this season and has won five of its past six games.

“Guys are just playing hard, it's a good recipe,” Johnson said.

Williams made it clear after the game that Ayton has “unreal talent” and he wasn't calling him out. He's just trying to get the former No. 1 overall pick to play to his full potential the entire game. Ayton had a stretch early in the fourth when he had the ball knocked out of his hands a few times, couldn't finish shots at the rim and was out of position on defense.

The wake-up call from Williams during the timeout ended those problems in a hurry.

“It's a great sign of growth and he doesn't get enough credit for that,” Williams said.

Phoenix built a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter, but Boston rallied to cut the deficit to 76-68 entering the fourth. Backup guard Payton Pritchard gave the Celtics a lift with two 3-pointers during the run.

Boston stayed fairly close for most of the game despite a rough shooting performance. Kemba Walker shot just 4 of 20 from the field but hit a 3-pointer with about 2:30 left that pulled the Celtics to within 91-86.

Pritchard added a long 3-pointer with about a minute left that brought Boston to within 9491, but Booker quickly responded with a contested 15-foot jumper and the Suns were able to hang on for the win.

“Tonight wasn't our night shooting the ball,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I told the team just now that I am more encouraged than discouraged because you are going to have days like this. That could have been easily worse the way we shot the ball.”

Tatum leads Celtics

Jayson Tatum led Boston with 23 points and seven assists. Walker added 14 while Pritchard and Daniel Theis had 12.