Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown Impress NBA Fans as Celtics Beat Kevin Durant, Suns

The Boston Celtics bounced back from a two-game losing streak by defeating Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns 117-107 on Saturday evening.

Jayson Tatum (29 points) and Jaylen Brown (27 points) led the Celtic charge against the Suns and Durant, who dominated with 45 points on 18-of-26 shooting, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Al Horford, who started in place of an injured Kristaps Porziņģis (right hamstring tightness), chipped in nine points and 12 boards. His clutch three-pointer with 1:54 left broke a two-minute scoreless spell for both teams and gave the C's a 110-102 edge.

Four other Celtics scored 10 or more points, led by Jrue Holiday's 15.

Boston led 62-50 at half, but the Durant-led Suns stormed back and trailed by just three (77-74) late in the third quarter. That's as close as the team would get for the remainder of the game, though, as the Celtics' star power and depth proved to be too much for a Suns team missing Devin Booker (right ankle sprain).

And with that, the C's improved to an NBA-best 49-14 mark after suffering tough back-to-back losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers (105-104) and the Denver Nuggets (115-109), marking just the second time the team had lost consecutive games this year and first since November.

Ultimately, the Celtics' win was largely thanks to the production of Tatum and Brown.

Tatum overcame a rough start and played the entire second half, scoring 22 points en route to his 29 with 10 rebounds and seven dimes, although he wasn't happy with his outing, telling ESPN's Lisa Saunders he was grateful for his teammates because he "stunk it up tonight."

One of those teammates was Brown, who carried the offense in the first half (18 points). Both were praised postgame.

Boston will finish its five-game road trip with games at the Utah Jazz on Monday and Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.