Why Kevin Durant Considered Loss To Celtics ‘Demoralizing’ For Suns

The Boston Celtics, even without star Jayson Tatum, managed to schoolyard bully the Phoenix Suns in Wednesday night’s 132-102 victory at PHX Arena.

Boston unloaded the wrath of its depth and connected on 22-of-52 attempts from 3-point range, which set an NBA record for the most times a team has hit 20-plus threes throughout a season (23). Everyone in the team’s shorthanded lineup hit at least two threes; meanwhile, the reserve unit provided another six. The offensive philosophy preached by head coach Joe Mazzulla made it nearly impossible for Phoenix to compete as the Celtics rode off into the sunset with a 34-point cushion and seventh-straight win.

Kevin Durant, who led the Suns in scoring with 30 points, wasn’t enough. Durant felt the pressure Boston inflicted and was left with no other choice but to tip his cap to the reigning champs and their latest display of mastering “Mazzulla-Ball.”

“When you see that thing hit the net like that, from that deep, yeah man. You know this is coming, you know what type of team they are, you know what type of league we in,” Durant told reporters, per Gerald Bourguet of PHX Sports. “But it’s still a little demoralizing when a team takes deep threes. It’s not something you gonna always get used to. Then sometimes off a miss, they spread out so much as the ball bounces high off the rim, cause it’s a deep shot, then they get an offensive rebound, kick out three. So that can make it seem like we’re not engaged as a team or we’re not playing hard, but that’s just how the ball bounces sometimes.”

Durant added: “It’s nice when they don’t shoot well from the three.”

The Celtics didn’t take too long to get started finding their red-hot shooting touch, either. Boston drained 10 3-pointers in the first quarter, and although Phoenix matched the Celtics intensity-wise with a 38-point opening frame, the Suns couldn’t maintain it. Phoenix quickly let go of the rope, Durant and co-star Devin Booker were noticeably drained as a result, and what should’ve been a must-watch East versus West clash became a business-as-usual road trip stop for the Celtics — nothing more, nothing less.

Phoenix continued its season-long trend that’s turned its potential Western Conference powerhouse into an afterthought: defense. The Suns rank 26th in defensive rating (116.7), only better than the Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans — four of the worst teams in the league. It’s even more mind-boggling that Phoenix is such a defensive catastrophe under head coach Mike Budenholzer, who at the helm for the Milwaukee Bucks four years ago, applied a defense-first approach to snag his former organization its first championship since 1971.

Durant and Booker were reminded of the gap that separates a team like the Celtics from a team like the Suns, only without Tatum’s availability, Phoenix’s collapse was significantly more inexplicable.

The Celtics improved their NBA-best road record to 30-7. With four left scheduled before the playoffs commence, Boston can tie the 1973 Golden State Warriors for the all-time record in road wins (34) in NBA history. If the team’s Tatum-less performance was any indicator, the Celtics should have no issue making out victorious for its final road stops — against the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks and Orlando Magic.

Boston has gone 17-3 in its last 20 games.