It's a marvel watching Paul call out the defensive rotations to keep his teammates in position and even more impressive seeing Mikal Bridges demoralize opposing wings. That's thanks in large part because of Paul, who remains a committed defender at age 35 and is one of the league's best on-floor coaches. Long a sieve on the defensive end-Phoenix hasn't ranked in the top half of the NBA in defensive efficiency since 2013-14-the team entered Sunday ranked fifth.

In fashioning themselves in Chris Paul's image, the Suns stopped being fun and started getting real on the defensive end of the floor. Suns Defense Continues Leading Playoff Push If Walker can't find his rhythm, it's hard to see the Celts making much of a run in the postseason. The offseason departure of Gordon Hayward made Walker's role in the offense all the more important. The Celtics are now 3-6 in games Walker has played and 9-4 in all others. I'll continue to work and find my rhythm and be better for this team.' I have no choice, man, but I would have loved to have shot the ball better, but unfortunately I didn't. This ain't the first time I've shot the ball bad, to be honest. 'Obviously I'm a little disappointed in myself personally. 'It's tough,' Walker told reporters of his struggles last month. Walker has struggled to create space off the dribble, his shots have been bricking at career-high rates across the board and his lack of size defensively becomes more glaring when he's not the quickest player on the floor. Even factoring in the understandable need for Walker to build up his body for competitive basketball, he's simply been bad on both ends of the floor and nothing resembling the All-Star talent Boston thought it was acquiring in 2019. The Celtics have been a significantly worse team on both ends of the floor with Walker in the lineup, and that's before the numbers factor in his ghastly 4-of-20 performance Sunday. We're nine games into Walker's return from an offseason stem-cell procedure on his knee, and the results have been.very much not good. G Devin Booker: 18 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 blockĬ Deandre Ayton: 16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block

G Kemba Walker: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assistsį Mikal Bridges: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists F Jayson Tatum: 23 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

Jayson tatum stts