BOSTON — Jaylen Brown got 18 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and Jayson Tatum scored 21 in his fifth game back from an Achilles tendon injury to help the Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns 120-112 on Monday night.
Devin Booker finished with 40 points for the Suns, who have lost back-to-back games after a four-game winning streak. Jalen Green scored 21 for Phoenix.
Derrick White, who was presented with the Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month Award for February before the game, also tallied 21 points for Boston, and Payton Pritchard scored 19.
Boston led by 10 early in the fourth quarter, but Phoenix took the lead with a 21-8 run and was up 111-108 with less than four minutes remaining before Brown stole the ball from Booker and fed it to Tatum for a layup. After a Phoenix miss, Brown scored off a Tatum’s miss to give Boston the lead. He then added two free throws and a short jumper to complete an 8-0 Celtics run.
Boston scored 12 of the last 13 points.
Phoenix lost to Toronto on Friday after giving up a 23-5 run in the fourth quarter to blow a 10-point lead.
Tatum missed Boston’s first 62 games while recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in last year’s playoffs. He returned March 6, played three games, sat one out, and now has played more than 32 minutes in back-to-back games.
Up next
Suns: Visit Minnesota on Tuesday
Celtics: Host Golden State on Wednesday