Tatum, Brown power Celtics to comfortable victory over Suns

The rolling Boston embarrassed the sloppy Phoenix Suns 125-98 on Wednesday night as the Celtics won for the eighth time in nine games, improving its NBA-best record to 21-5.

On to the next one ☘️ pic.twitter.com/SLAkJaOZnI

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 8, 2022

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each notched 25 points, Malcolm Brogdon added 16 off the bench.

“You enjoy the moment, but you’ve got to understand why you did it,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after the expected showdown between two of the league’s top teams never materialized with Boston leading by 45 points.

“Then you’ve got to know that it’s a long year. This could happen to us. It might not, but we’re going to go through some type of obstacles throughout the year.”

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The hot hand made a play in tonight's @JetBlue Play of the Game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/og2HX2FfEQ

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 8, 2022

Phoenix, who lost for the third time in four games, came into the game with the best record in a crowded Western Conference race.

“We didn’t compete the way we needed to compete tonight,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said.

Josh Okogie led Phoenix with a career-high 28 points off the bench, while Devin Booker finished with 17. Chris Paul scored four points, four rebounds and added four assists in 24 minutes.