Before Thursday’s game against the Celtics, Suns star Kevin Durant recognized his place in the league. At 35 years old, the future Hall of Famer is still at the top of his game. But he knows who’s next.
“I’ve been in this league a long time now, I know when it’s a passing of the guard,” Durant said.
Durant was talking about Jayson Tatum, but it could have extended to Jaylen Brown, too. On Thursday night, the Celtics’ stars showed again why right now should be their time.
Brown scored 37 points, Tatum added 26 and the shorthanded Celtics – without Kristaps Porzingis – flexed their muscle on the Suns. They torched them from 3-point land. Al Horford even outscored Durant as the Celtics grabbed their fourth consecutive victory and second win over the Suns in a week with a 127-112 blowout at TD Garden.
The Celtics could have made excuses on Thursday night. The first game back home after a long trip is notoriously difficult to play. The Suns arrived in Boston well rested. The Celtics were also playing their third game in four nights. But chalk up their 52nd victory of the season to another mentality win and the consistency they’ve played with all year.
“It’s a long season,” Horford said. “Sometimes this kind of happens in the schedule and for us to find a way to compete and battle, and I felt like we did that all night. We knew we were going to get their best shot and we just stayed the course and continued to make energy plays and continued to play hard.”
Added Brown: “This could have been a game we came out sluggish, but we had the right mentality and came out and take care of business. So that says a lot about this team. It says a lot about how we’ve been prepared, how we’ve been coached, and we’ve got to keep that mentality up.”
With a month still remaining in the regular season, the Celtics have clinched a top-six place in the playoffs with Thursday’s win combined with the Bucks’ victory over the 76ers. The C’s are well on their way to locking up the top seed in the NBA, with a six-game cushion over the Nuggets.
Boston’s first game back home in more than a week and a half was certainly sluggish at times. The Suns dominated the Celtics on the glass in the first half, leading to an early 13-0 advantage in second-chance points. But the Celtics locked in after halftime. They raised their level defensively, and it helped them get out, run and open the game up with a dominant third quarter.
After leading by five at halftime, the Celtics opened up a lead as large as 20 in the third quarter. They made eight 3-pointers in the period, including two consecutive triples from Horford – who scored 24 points as he matched a career high with six 3-pointers – that gave them their biggest advantage. The Celtics’ offense was humming all night to the tune of 31 assists as they sprayed the ball around, as their high level of execution on that end continued.
“I think we’ve been emphasizing it the last few weeks,” Brown said. “Sometimes we can get a good shot. But like, getting the defense moving will get an even better shot if we’re a little bit more patient. We’ve been emphasizing that, especially since the Denver game. I think we’ve been implementing that more.”
The Celtics’ defense wasn’t sharp to start the game, as Durant scored 15 points in the first quarter – dueling with Tatum, who scored 14 in the period – and the Suns kept getting extra points on the glass. But the C’s eventually raised their level. They went on a 17-6 run to end the first quarter. And Durant – who scored 45 points against the Celtics last Saturday – finished with just 20 points and five after the opening period.
“I don’t know how we did it. He torched us just four games ago, so credit to JT, JB, Jrue (Holiday), the guys that were guarding him, just made it tough on him. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s impressive,” Horford said.
The Celtics dominated the third with a 37-25 advantage and kept their foot on the gas in the fourth. Brown scored seven consecutive points to open the final period and never threatened again. Brown put an exclamation point on this victory with three minutes left. After missing a shot, he stayed in the play, stole a pass from Grayson Allen before finishing a ferocious dunk on him. A fiery Brown then turned to the crowd to say something.
Brown’s latest big performance not only carried another Celtics victory, but illustrated how he’s playing the best basketball of his career.
“I just feel like I’ve improved in a lot of stuff that I needed to work on,” Brown said. “Just overall, just improve my mentality, but just attack my weaknesses. I feel like some of the stuff that you could say about me last year, you can’t say about me this year. I’m excited to go to the playoffs and keep on improving the same thing.”
