Celtics soar; Suns spoil Curry’s 50
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Boston’s bench came up big Wednesday to help the Celtics notch an eighth straight National Basketball Association victory, 126-101, over the Hawks in Atlanta.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 22 points and his fellow All-Star Jayson Tatum added 19, but Brown said it was the 44 points from the Boston reserves that ultimately made the difference.
“We got some big plays, some great energy from guys coming off the bench,” Brown said.
“We’ve got a really good team from top to bottom.” The Celtics took their league-leading record to 12-3 while the team that beat them to the title in last season’s Finals, the Golden State Warriors, fell to 6-9 with a 130-119 loss to the Suns in Phoenix.
Golden State star Stephen Curry poured in 50 points, but with little offensive aid and lackluster defense, the Warriors fell to 0-8 on the road — their worst road start since they went 0-9 in 1989.
“There’s no collective grit, we lack grit right now,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“And when you don’t have grit the game is really easy for the other team.”
Cameron Payne, standing in again for injured All-Star point guard Chris Paul, led the Suns with a career-high 29 points, Devin Booker added 27 and Mikal Bridges chipped in 23.
Curry did what he could to set an early tone, scoring 31 points in the first half. But Golden State trailed 72-65 at the break, and the Suns opened the third quarter on a 6-0 scoring run to push their lead to 13 points.