Beaten in Cleveland then in Denver, will the Celtics lose a third game in a row in Phoenix this evening for the first time this season? The men of Joe Mazzulla obviously want to reverse the dynamic this evening in Phoenix, but the Suns need a benchmark success to get a… 3rd victory in a row.
This promises a great battle at the Footprint Center, especially since during their last visit to Arizona last season, the C's put up a real demonstration, winning 125 to 98 after having counted up to 45 points. advance ! A good reminder of the strike force of this team, reinforced by the arrivals of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
“Boston is electric. What are they incapable of doing? They have size, physical dimension, talent, versatility”, warned Bradley Bealwho knows the qualities of the Celtics well. “They have the best attack, they are in the top 5 in defense: they are the cream of the crop. They're the number 1 team right now in the NBA. It all starts with Jayson Tatum. He is always in “attack” mode, he is a complete scorer. I think the addition of Kristaps Porzingis is great for them, with his ability to be versatile, his size, he can get out of the way and shoot over guys, which is very hard to defend. Jaylen Brown has always been a great player on both ends of the court, and then there's Jrue Holiday and Derrick White playing at an All-Star level. We’re going to have work, but it’s a good test for us.”
A balance to maintain
Even if Devin Booker missing, Phoenix intends to take advantage of the quality of the opposition to raise its level of play and be able to compete in all sectors. The Suns have also increased their squad with the arrival of Bradley Bealand his coach, Frank Vogelintends to use it to try to disrupt the defensive balance of the Eastern Conference leader, as was the case in the last match against Toronto.
“It’s necessary, you have to be able to hit the racket”said coach Vogel. “You can do it but they are very good on their switches, They keep you out of this two-man game a lot if you don't attack them smart. You can try like that, but also on basic actions, on someone who can beat his direct opponent to get into the paint.”
For Kevin Durant, it will also be necessary to stick to the fundamentals which make the strength of these Suns, starting with the attack in its diversity, without neglecting the defensive aspect which will also be essential. To win, you will have to play a full match.
“We just have to play our style of basketball. Move the ball, take shots when they come, try to keep the ball in our hands and not lose it, and defend hard physically”he confided. “Everyone in the league takes a lot of 3-pointers. I have the impression that we insist on this in all the locker rooms, to take at least 40 3-point shots per night. Boston can go up to 50-60 per game some nights, but they have guys who can shoot in all positions, from 1 to 5. We also had nights where we took a lot, with great efficiency. So we just have to be ready and play our game. But it starts with the defensive aspect.”
Destiny will perhaps give them a little help since Jaylen Brown is still uncertain (pelvis). The two teams will then meet again very quickly, starting Thursday evening at TD Garden.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Kevin Durant | 56 | 37.2 | 52.5 | 41.9 | 85.7 | 0.6 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 5.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 28.0 |
| Devin Booker | 50 | 35.8 | 49.4 | 37.9 | 88.0 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 6.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 27.5 |
| Bradley Beal | 34 | 32.4 | 49.6 | 37.3 | 78.1 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 18.2 |
| Grayson Allen | 57 | 33.5 | 49.7 | 47.5 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 13.1 |
| Eric Gordon | 52 | 29.5 | 44.9 | 38.2 | 79.3 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 12.2 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 59 | 27.2 | 51.7 | 24.1 | 66.7 | 2.8 | 8.0 | 10.8 | 3.8 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 11.7 |
| Royce O'Neale | 11 | 28.8 | 40.0 | 39.4 | 66.7 | 0.8 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 10.0 |
| Drew Eubanks | 57 | 16.0 | 62.4 | 100.0 | 76.3 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 5.5 |
| Bowl Bowl | 25 | 11.2 | 60.8 | 32.1 | 70.0 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 5.4 |
| Chimezie Metu | 37 | 12.1 | 50.8 | 29.4 | 88.4 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.0 |
| Jordan Goodwin | 40 | 14.0 | 38.9 | 28.8 | 86.2 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.0 |
| Josh Okogie | 54 | 17.1 | 41.7 | 29.7 | 74.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 4.9 |
| Keita Bates Diop | 39 | 15.3 | 42.7 | 31.3 | 72.2 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| Nassir Little | 34 | 12.5 | 45.8 | 31.7 | 85.0 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 3.9 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 29 | 13.2 | 36.1 | 32.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| Saben Lee | 20 | 8.7 | 36.0 | 14.3 | 75.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 3.3 |
| Thaddeus Young | 2 | 14.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Udoka Azubuike | 14 | 7.7 | 72.7 | 0.0 | 27.3 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 2.5 |
| David Roddy | 6 | 4.2 | 60.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
| Theo Maledon | 4 | 3.3 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
