By GREG MENGELT
PHOENIX — Romeo Langford scored 6 points but the Boston Celtics took a 111-90 loss in Phoenix at the Footprint Center.
Langford, a former New Albany and Indiana University star, went 3 for 7 from the field and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds — one short of his season high of 8 set exact two weeks ago in a win at Toronto — in 23 minutes off the Celtics bench.
The Celtics trailed Phoenix 25-24 after the first quarter before being outscored 32-17 in the critical second period.
Langford’s floater on an assist from Al Horford with 4:05 left in the first quarter gave Boston a 20-15 lead. With 9:19 remaining in the second quarter, Langford’s offensive putback rebound cut Boston’s deficit to 4 at 32-28. His third basket came off a Jayson Tatum miss with 27 seconds left in the third quarter when the Celtics trailed the defending Western Conference champions by 15.
Tatum, who averages a team-best 25.7 points, led the Celtics with 24 points Friday. Langford had the second-most minutes off the Boston bench behind Grant Williams, who finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds.
The Celtics shot just 37.6 percent from the field (35 of 93) and made just 4 of their 26 3-point attempts (15.4 percent) in defeat.
Phoenix (21-4) has now won 20 of its last 21 games since a 1-3 start. The Suns’ 18-game winning streak was snapped by Golden State last Friday. All five Phoenix starters and two subs scored in double figures Friday, led by Javale McGee’s 21 points and 15 rebounds. Chris Paul had 10 points and 12 assists. Boston had just 13 total assists from the contest.
The Suns were without their top two scorers Devon Booker (hamstring) and Deandre Ayton (illness). Jaylen Brown (hamstring) missed the game for Boston, which is now 13-14 following its third straight loss. Celtics coach Ime Udoka did report before the game that they expect Brown to return soon.
The Celtics will look to get back on track Monday when they host defending World Champion Milwaukee (17-10) at 7:30 p.m. The Bucks have won 10 of their last 12 games.
