Major benchmarks: Celtics 87, Suns 79

Jeff Green throws down one of his three sensational dunks.

For the first time since Christmas day, the Celtics (18-17) are over .500 after defeating the Phoenix Suns, 87-79.

Boston has now won 4 games in a row for the first time since last April.

The story of this game was the bench production. Boston's bench led the charge in this one, and they provided the type of effort that they are capable of producing on a nightly basis.

Here's a recap:

The good:

* On January 9, 2012, Jeff Green was in a hospital in Cleveland undergoing life-threatening open-heart surgery. Fast forward to January 9, 2013, and he spent his evening as the best player on the basketball court. He led the Celtics with 14 points off the bench. His night was filled with strong drives to the hoop and three emphatic dunks, including a posterizing dunk on his former teammate Jermaine O'Neal.

* How about the rook! Jared Sullinger had himself a game. He pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds, the highest mark for a Celtic since Kevin Garnett pulled down 15 back in December of 2010. It was part of Sullinger's second-career double-double, where he scored 12 points on 6-of-10 from the field. Sullinger continues to impress, and he continues to prove the other 20 teams who passed on him in the draft wrong. He also was a plus -24, his highest plus/minus mark of the season, and he is now the Celtics leader in that category on the season.

* The Boston bench outscored their starters, 47-40. That's all you need to know about this one. The starters started out slow. After the first substitution was made when the Suns led 14-9 at the 6:28 mark of the first quarter, the bench took the reigns for the rest of the half, leading a 42-27 charge. The second quarter, a quarter in which Boston outscored Phoenix 30-17, featured 17 points from the bench.

The bad:

* The Celtics struggled mightily defending the paint. They allowed the Suns to score 50 points in the paint, including 28 in the first half. 10 of Phoenix's 11 field goals in the first quarter and 9 of their 11 third-quarter field goals were in the paint, and that is simply unacceptable.

* The offensive rebounding numbers aren't that alarming, but they came in bunches. Phoenix outrebounded Boston on the offensive glass 19-12, and 6 of those came in the third quarter. On numerous occasions, Phoenix got the offensive rebound with only one guy on the glass and many Celtics around the paint. That can't happen.

Miscellaneous:

* The fact that Carmelo Anthony was only suspended for one game is mind-blowing. In the NBA's statement regarding the release, they mentioned the fact that Anthony tried to "engage Kevin Garnett on multiple occasions." Multiple occasions, and he only gets one game? Since when is it O.K. to spend more time trying to get into it with an opposing player than with your own team after a game. Hey, if Rasheed Wallace tells you it's a bad idea to do something, you probably shouldn't do it. When told of Anthony's suspension, Rajon Rondo responded, "I get suspended for a phone hang-up and people just get away with anything in his league. Oh, my goodness, so that’s the same thing huh?" Rondo served a one-game suspension on Monday for contact with an official on Saturday night in Atlanta and failure to cooperate with the league's investigation.

* More often than not, I say to myself, "Why doesn't Jeff Green ever look like he's into a game?" Then I remind myself that he is now only a year removed from major heart surgery, and going from nearly dying to regaining his form as a world-class athlete doesn't always happen easily. But after tonight, come on, why can't you do that every night, Jeff!

* I'm getting sick of the touch fouls on Jared Sullinger. I hope it's not the rookie label.

* During one possession in the fourth quarter, Kevin Garnett brought the ball up and found Jeff Green cutting along the baseline for a two-hand slam. I can guarantee you that won't happen again this season.

* I've never been an Alvin Gentry fan. Was it really necessary to call a timeout with 9.8 seconds left with a ten-point deficit? I'm not sure if him and Doc Rivers have some sort of beef, but Gentry did not even acknowledge Rivers after the game. Rivers always either shakes the other coach's hand, or acknowledge him with a finger-point, and Doc did neither of those.

* Watching Jared Dudley duel with Rondo was pretty comical. Rondo spent most of the night defending him, and he helped hold Dudley to 6-of-17 from the floor. What's even more funny is the fact that Dudley has 6 inches on Rondo.

* Since Avery Bradley's return, the Celtics are 4-1. Coincidence? Nah. I'll have more on that tomorrow.

The Celtics will look to extend their winning streak to five games as they take on the Houston Rockets on Friday night.