Celtics to face Suns with a ‘relaxed’ Jayson Tatum
Things continue to trend in the right direction for Jayson Tatum as the Boston Celtics enter Monday night's home game against the Phoenix Suns.
Tatum played a season-high 32 minutes Saturday night to help the Celtics end a two-game losing streak with a 111-100 victory over the Washington Wizards. It was Tatum's fourth game since he returned from surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.
Tatum finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.
"Compared to the first game, I feel a lot more relaxed," Tatum said. "Obviously, the first game was such a big day and moment. I'm finding more and more moments each game where I'm feeling more confident, more explosive.
"Whether it's driving a closeout or reacting or something, it's just more and more moments each game where I find plays where maybe it's not like a big play people would notice, but something that I noticed, or like I heard that gave me confidence and things like that."
Tatum played in three straight games upon his return but didn't play in Thursday's 104-102 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"I obviously understand the bigger picture and the plan," Tatum said. "Sticking with the plan in the moment is kind of tough. Obviously I want to be out there as much as possible. But (against Washington) I got to play more than in the first three games, so I'll take that."
The Celtics also will take the offensive effort center Neemias Queta gave them. Queta finished with 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting against the Wizards. He tossed in 13 points during the first quarter -- the highest scoring quarter of his NBA career -- and had 22 points at halftime. It was the first time he scored at least 20 points in a half during his NBA career.
Queta had 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots in the win.
"I think just giving the game what it needs," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "It called for (scoring) in the beginning, and I thought later in the game it called for his ability to screen and get guys open."
Phoenix is coming off Friday's 122-115 loss to the Toronto Raptors, which ended a four-game winning streak. The Suns led by 10 with 8:12 to play, but the Raptors took control with a 23-5 run.
The Suns received 34 points from Jalen Green, who made a career-high eight 3-pointers (on 16 attempts). Devin Booker added 31 points.
"Not that good," Devin Booker said when he was asked about his team's late-game execution. "Feel like the wear down of a back-to-back definitely got to us on both ends. We got a little stagnant (with a) new lineup out there. It just didn't work out."
Phoenix coach Jordan Ott said he chose to use a smaller lineup to offset Toronto's size and physicality.
"There were spots there when we didn't rebound," Ott said. "In the beginning of the fourth, we gave them a second chance. We had a little gap and probably could have made it a little bigger.
"Anybody can look at the box score and see it wasn't good enough. We were good enough for three quarters. ... It's the NBA."