Benchmark win for Celtics over Suns

Again, defense was the deciding factor as the Celtics beat the Suns, 87-79, Wednesday night at the TD Garden for their fourth consecutive victory.

But you can't overlook the contribution of the much-maligned Boston bench. For the first time in nearly five years, reserves accounted for the Celtics' top three scorers.

On the one-year anniversary of open heart surgery, Jeff Green had three dunks and scored 14 points to become only the fourth Celtics sub to lead the team in scoring this season. Green admitted it was an emotional day.

“I don't cry,” Green said, “but it was. A year ago I had heart surgery. I think about laying in the bed. When I woke up from it to where I am now, it's a big deal to me. I'm just glad to be here, glad to be alive, glad to be playing basketball.”

Rookie Jared Sullinger came off the bench to grab a career-high 16 rebounds, the most by a Celtic this season and the most by a Boston rookie since Ryan Gomes pulled down 17 at Portland in 2006.

“You've got to have a go-get-it attitude when it comes to rebounding, and that's what I have,” Sullinger said.

“He's playing like a madman,” Kevin Garnett said. “I knew he had like 10 or something, but I didn't know he had 16.”

Sullinger also scored 12 points, including a layup that gave Boston its largest lead of the fourth quarter, 82-69, with 4:32 left.

Jason Terry made 6 of 8 shots off the bench and finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Terry opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and a little while later found Garnett for a layup to push the Boston lead to 72-64.

“That's our job,” Terry said. “Our job is to play with energy and make an impact on the game, and I thought we did that for the most part.”

Boston's bench outscored Phoenix's, 47-16, to help overcome a 17-0 spurt against the Celtics' starters early in the second half.

“It's nice when your starters aren't great and the bench wins the game for you,” coach Doc Rivers said.

The last time reserves were Boston's top three scorers was the regular-season finale on April 16, 2008, when Leon Powe had 27 points, Tony Allen 18 and Eddie House 10.

Rivers even raved about the defense that Courtney Lee played off the bench.

The Celtics limited Phoenix to 39.6 percent shooting and have held the opposition to an average of 82.7 points during their four-game win streak.

Garnett was the only Boston starter to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points in 28 minutes.

The bench was so productive the starters didn't have to play much.

Paul Pierce played only 24 minutes and finished with seven points and seven rebounds. Rajon Rondo had eight points and eight assists in 31 minutes.

The Celtics have won four in a row for the first time since April 7-11, 2012, to move back over .500 at 18-17.

After Garnett opened the half with a basket to stretch Boston's lead to 55-41, Phoenix scored the next 17 points, most of them against Boston's starters, to grab a 58-55 lead. The Celtics went 0 for 8 during the Suns' run.

Rondo finally ended the Celtics' scoring drought by sinking an 18-footer, and Pierce followed with a drive to regain the lead for good for Boston.

Luis Scola had 16 points and Marcin Gortat had 12 points and 14 rebounds for Phoenix, which has lost 10 of its last 11 games and 11 in a row on the road. The Suns lost in Milwaukee Tuesday while the Celtics were off.

Green's back-to-back dunks keyed a 14-2 run that gave Boston a 47-35 lead with 4:25 left in the second quarter.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.