Key Moment

The Boston Celtics have allowed early leads to slip away from them in the past, but that didn’t happen Friday night in Phoenix. They jumped on the Suns with a 13-0 run to begin the game and Boston never relinquished its lead.

Courtney Lee opened the game up with two points on a jump shot just 18 seconds in to get the C’s rolling. Brandon Bass put home a layup after a turnover by Luis Scola and Lee scored the next two points on another jumper. Boston forced another turnover on Phoenix’s next possession, this time by Goran Dragic, and Avery Bradley put home a layup to put the C’s on top 8-0.

The men in green and white were dominating at that point but they were just warming up. The true dominance began moments later, when the man named Green joined in on the party.

Jeff Green, starting in place of the resting Kevin Garnett, scored his first two points of the night by converting on a pretty reverse layup as he was fouled with 9:04 remaining in the first quarter. He tacked on the free throw to make it 11-0 Celtics. Boston then forced the Suns into yet another turnover at the other end of the court before Green canned a smooth, step-back jumper from 15 feet out on Boston's ensuing possession.

The Celtics were on top 13-0 at that point and Green was just getting started. He and the Celtics dominated the remainder of the game, as the forward finished with a season-high 31 points while the Celtics grabbed a 113-88 victory.

Blowing out out an NBA team from start to finish is one of the rarest feats we see accomplished in this league. However, with Green at the front of the troops, the Celtics finally made it happen Friday night in Phoenix.

Box Score Nuggets

• The Celtics scored as many points (113) as they gave up to the Lakers on Wednesday.
• Jeff Green blocked a career-high five shots.
• Green also scored a season-high 31 points on 11-for-14 shooting.
• Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, the Celtics outrebounded the Suns 46-40.
• Green finished with the game's best plus/minus rating, at plus-26.
• Goran Dragic logged the game's only double-double with 19 points and 10 assists.
• Only three Suns scored in double-figures.
• Chris Wilcox scored a season-high 14 points and also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
• Boston shot 55.7 percent, while Phoenix shot just 41.7 percent.
• In his first game with the Celtics, Jordan Crawford logged 10 points, three rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes of action.
• Terrence Williams, in his second game with the Celtics, logged nine points, four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes.
• The Celtics scored at least 25 points in all four quarters.
• Boston's largest lead was 30 points.
• Each team scored at least 46 points in the paint.