Devin Booker's 40 Points Not Enough as Suns Fall to Celtics in Monday Thriller

The Phoenix Suns fell to the Boston Celtics in a close Monday night battle at TD Garden, 120-112.

Still down starters Mark Williams and Dillon Brooks due to injury, Phoenix's small ball lineup ultimately wasn't enough.

Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 41 points to pair with seven rebounds and six assists.

Devin Booker notched 40 points in Phoenix's second consecutive loss, dropping the Suns to 39-29 on the year.

Quick recap of tonight's action in Boston:

First Quarter

After an early pair of turnovers by Boston, the Suns were able to build a quick 5-0 lead and eventually carried a 20-13 advantage into the first timeout after making their first four-of-five attempts from deep.

The opening portion of festivities was highlighted by Jalen Green's monster slam.

WITH AUTHORITY JG4 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VkgKYIgKRU
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 16, 2026

Boston quickly went on a 7-0 run two minutes into return from action, forcing Jordan Ott to call a timeout and rally the troops.

The two sides exchanged blows through the end of the quarter, which saw Phoenix hold a slim 32-31 advantage. Grayson Allen had ten points off the bench (and crossed 5,000 career points) while the Celtics shot 11 free throws in the opening 12 minutes.

Second Quarter

Derrick White wasted no time getting Boston going in the second, knocking home three consecutive three-pointers to push the Celtics back into the lead and forcing another Ott timeout.

Jaylen Brown had arguably the play of the quarter when he found Oso Ighodaro on him in the corner, giving him a little shake and bake before burying a three:

NASTY 🤢 pic.twitter.com/txIFunaODm
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 17, 2026

Haywood Highsmith put home two shots from deep to keep the Suns within reach of the Celtics midway through the second, though Boston switched to a small lineup towards the end of the first half.

The Suns trailed 65-61 after White's 16 points in the second quarter. The Celtics shot over 50% from the field and three.

Phoenix/Boston were relatively even in terms of rebounds (19/19) and turnovers (9 combined).

Allen appeared to have turned his ankle earlier in action and sat the entire second quarter.

Third Quarter

Booker wasted no time in the third, hitting back-to-back three-point attempts while the Suns went full-court on their defense to start the second half.

However, the Suns couldn't quite guard Tatum or Brown, seeing Ott call another timeout as Phoenix was down 78-69 in the opening minutes of the quarter.

Booker had 23 straight points for the Suns and crossed the 30-point threshold in the third quarter. Boston consistently maintained a two/three possession advantage through the period before marching into the fourth with a 91-86 lead.

Tonight, Book scored 23 consecutive points in a span from Q2 to Q3, now the 2nd longest streak of consecutive points in Suns history.

Book has each of the top five 📚 pic.twitter.com/hcmyTjXTCo
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 17, 2026

The Celtics had assists on 26 of their 32 makes through three quarters.

Fourth Quarter

The Suns dwindled their deficit to two points in the opening stages of the fourth thanks to another pair of threes from Highsmith. In the blink of an eye, Phoenix regained the lead.

With just under three minutes to play and out of a Suns timeout, the Celtics took the lead back on a Brown rebound/put-back. A minute later, Brown hit the free throw line, with MVP chants from the home crowd, shooting his 20th and 21st attempts from the line.

Down five with under a minute left, Booker was called for an offensive foul — which essentially sealed the Suns' fate.

Booker did hit the free throw line later but went one-of-two at the stripe, which saw him hit the 40 point mark and officially gave the Suns their first points in almost three minutes of game time.

The Celtics managed to hit free throws and run the clock out from there, securing their sixth consecutive win over Phoenix.