It turned out to be a lot tougher than many fans expected but the Boston Celtics beat the lowly Phoenix Suns 116-111 in a rare early Saturday afternoon game.

The victory puts the Celtics at a NBA best record of 20-4.

Suns guard Devin Booker, who dropped 70 points on the C's last year at Boston Garden, helped keep his team hanging around with 38 points.

But Celtics got a late game three-pointer and driving score from Kyrie Irving to put the win away. Irving finished with 19.

The Celts got great balanced scoring - Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris each had 17, Jayson Tatum scored 15 and Al Horford had 14 points and 11 assists. Marcus Smart was again effective off the bench with 13 points and seven rebounds.

The very tough Milwaukee Bucks come to Boston next, Monday night at 7:30pm.

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