Jaylen Brown tossed in 31 points and the Boston Celtics broke the NBA record for made 3-pointers in a season during a 123-103 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
The Celtics (57-20) set the record on their eighth trey of the game, a 26-footer by Payton Pritchard with 8:19 remaining in the second quarter. It gave Boston a 44-26 lead. The 2022-23 Golden State Warriors set the previous record (1,363).
The Celtics made 14 of 39 shots from behind the 3-point arc, and they ended the night with 1,370 treys on the campaign.
Jayson Tatum added 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Boston, which led 31-22 after 12 minutes, 60-47 at halftime and 90-75 entering the fourth. The Suns failed to get closer than 13 points in the final quarter.
The Celtics also received 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Derrick White.
Boston averted losing back-to-back home games for the first time this season. The Celtics were coming off Wednesday’s 124-103 home loss to Miami. Boston has an 18-2 record in games that follow a loss this season.
Devin Booker scored a game-high 37 points for Phoenix (35-42), which has lost five in a row. Royce O’Neale, Oso Ighodaro and Tyus Jones each finished with 12 points for the Suns, who never led by more than two points.
Bradley Beal returned to the Phoenix lineup after missing eight games with a left hamstring strain, but he was limited to one point in 30 minutes. Beal was 0-for-7 from the field.
Phoenix is in 11th place in the Western Conference standings, two game behind Sacramento, but has to finish no lower than 10th to qualify for the play-in tournament.
Boston beat Phoenix 132-102 in the only other meeting between the teams this season.
The Celtics improved their home record to 25-13.
–Field Level Media
