Devin Booker, Suns Beat Jayson Tatum, Celtics as Jaylen Brown Sits with Injury
At their best, the Boston Celtics in recent years have preferred an egalitarian approach to scoring over a one-man show.
With his teammates struggling and Jaylen Brown out, Jayson Tatum did his best to keep the Celtics in the game, but it wasn't enough against a teamwide effort from the Phoenix Suns.
Mikal Bridges scored a team-high 19 points, and Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker both had double-doubles, leading the Suns to a 100-91 win over Boston on Sunday.
Five Suns players were in double figures, helping them overcome a frustrating offensive effort from Boston. The Celtics shot just 35.5 percent from the floor, and no player besides Tatum (23 points) had more than 14.
Notable Stats
Celtics
F Jayson Tatum: 23 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
G Kemba Walker: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Suns
F Mikal Bridges: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists
G Devin Booker: 18 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block
C Deandre Ayton: 16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
The Celtics Have a Kemba Walker Problem
We're nine games into Walker's return from an offseason stem-cell procedure on his knee, and the results have been...very much not good.
The Celtics have been a significantly worse team on both ends of the floor with Walker in the lineup, and that's before the numbers factor in his ghastly 4-of-20 performance Sunday. Even factoring in the understandable need for Walker to build up his body for competitive basketball, he's simply been bad on both ends of the floor and nothing resembling the All-Star talent Boston thought it was acquiring in 2019.
Walker has struggled to create space off the dribble, his shots have been bricking at career-high rates across the board and his lack of size defensively becomes more glaring when he's not the quickest player on the floor.
"It's tough," Walker told reporters of his struggles last month. "Obviously I'm a little disappointed in myself personally. But I've been around for a minute now. This ain't the first time I've shot the ball bad, to be honest. Just gotta look past it. I have no choice, man, but I would have loved to have shot the ball better, but unfortunately I didn't. I'll take it on the chin. I understand I can be better. I'll continue to work and find my rhythm and be better for this team."
The Celtics are now 3-6 in games Walker has played and 9-4 in all others.
The offseason departure of Gordon Hayward made Walker's role in the offense all the more important. If Walker can't find his rhythm, it's hard to see the Celts making much of a run in the postseason.
Suns Defense Continues Leading Playoff Push
In fashioning themselves in Chris Paul's image, the Suns stopped being fun and started getting real on the defensive end of the floor. Long a sieve on the defensive end—Phoenix hasn't ranked in the top half of the NBA in defensive efficiency since 2013-14—the team entered Sunday ranked fifth.
That's thanks in large part because of Paul, who remains a committed defender at age 35 and is one of the league's best on-floor coaches. It's a marvel watching Paul call out the defensive rotations to keep his teammates in position and even more impressive seeing Mikal Bridges demoralize opposing wings.
The offense has crawled to the second-slowest pace in the NBA, again thanks to Paul and his penchant for patience, but the efficiency isn't the same. Phoenix ranks 18th in offensive efficiency and has a glaring lack of scoring punch coming off the bench.
Injuries have played a factor, but the Suns are a team to watch as a buyer before the deadline.
