Resilience under pressure has not been the Boston Celtics‘ calling card in their current era of contention before now, so to hear opposing stars credit the Celtics for their perseverance while struggling is no minor praise. And such was the response of Phoenix Suns superstar forward Kevin Durant towards the team that beat his Suns, despite him putting up a 45-point explosion.
“They have got a solid strategy over there,” said Durant via CLNS Media. “And it’s one of those strategies where they might be playing a bad game early on, but as the course of the game goes on, it’ll come back around for them, and I think that’s what happened.”
Boston fended off a pair of late pushes from the Suns in the game’s third and fourth quarters, with star forward Jayson Tatum waking up in the fourth quarter to help put Phoenix away despite a relatively quiet start to the game.
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“Late in the game, they were able to make some shots,” explained Durant, who noted how Phoenix, in comparison, struggled to get up their shots vs. Boston Saturday night, especially Grayson Allen.
“They made six more 3s than us, and outrebounded us … I think the 3-point line is really what beat us.”
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