PHOENIX (AP) — JaVale
McGee always brings the energy. On Friday night, he also brought the buckets.
The 7-footer had season highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds, Chris Paul added 12 assists and the Phoenix Suns rolled to a 111-90 win over the Boston Celtics.
The Suns won for the 20th time in 21 games despite missing starters Devin Booker (hamstring) and Deandre Ayton (non-COVID illness). Booker has missed four games in a row, while Ayton was a late scratch because he didn’t feel well at the morning shootaround.
McGee picked up the slack, shooting 9 of 16 from the field and even knocking down a 3-pointer, just the 11th in his 14-year career. The big man was one of Phoenix’s most important pickups during free agency, and he’s quickly become a fan favorite because of his hustle.
The veteran is on pace to average more than 10 points per game for just the fourth time.
“There’s a lot of things on this team that work for the center position if you’re doing it the right way,” McGee said. “I pride myself on being extremely efficient with the minutes they give me.”
Seven Suns scored in double figures. Cam Payne had 17 points while Jae Crowder and Cameron Johnson both added 16.
The Celtics have lost three straight, fell to 13-14 and lost four of five games during their West Coast road trip. This one was particularly rough. Boston’s offense looked disjointed all night, and nobody could shoot.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 24 points but went just 10 of 25 from the field. Marcus Smart was 1 of 13. The entire team was 4 of 26 (15%) from 3-point range.
“It was kind of like a snowball effect,” Tatum said. “One turnover, one miss, it just built and built. Instead of moving on to the next play, we kind of let it carry over. We let our offense affect our defense and then they got rolling.”
Phoenix took an 84-69 lead after the third quarter and pushed that advantage to 20 points by early in the fourth to cruise to the win.
Boston was without Jaylen Brown (hamstring) and Josh Richardson (COVID-19 protocol) and, unlike the Suns’ absences, the Celtics appeared lost. Celtics coach Ime Udoka said it’s a problem, but certainly not the only one.