The Celtics have run through the NBA with such relative ease this season that their losses become a national storyline, a sudden cause for concern. Their first losing streak in four months this week raised questions about their ability to win a championship.

It was almost hard to believe that it was just a two-game losing streak.

The Celtics left Denver with plenty of lessons learned, and maybe a necessary reset. While they may not be perfect, and not quite a finished product, they have stayed consistent in their approach and mindset all season. And on Saturday night in Phoenix, they showed the resilience to adversity that has been a hallmark for them with an important bounce-back 117-107 win over the Suns.

Jayson Tatum scored 29 points, Jaylen Brown added 27 points, and the Celtics’ bench had one of its best performances of the season. The C’s, after struggling with the details in Thursday’s loss to the Nuggets, were sharp on the margins. They were locked in defensively, and crisp offensively. And at last, they pulled out a win in crunch time – overcoming Kevin Durant’s 45 points – to successfully avoid what would have been their first three-game losing streak of the season.

“We’re not perfect. We try to be. We really do try,” Tatum told reporters in Phoenix. “But we make mistakes and things like that. This is a tough league. Other teams are really good, got great players. So it’s all about how you respond. If you want to be a special team, you gotta do a really good job of responding.”

The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, who missed the game with right hamstring tightness, but the injury is not considered to be serious.

The Celtics were consistent with their process all night on Saturday. They controlled the game for the final three quarters and never gave up the lead. Despite some absurd shot-making from Durant, they stayed poised in the final moments. The Celtics led by double digits with less than five minutes remaining before Durant nearly willed the Suns back by himself. The Suns cut the deficit to five late, but misfired on three consecutive 3-pointers that would have made it a one-possession game.

The Celtics, who have caught criticism for their late-game execution this week, had the answers on Saturday. On a well-executed play, Jrue Holiday slipped between a screen and found a wide-open Al Horford in the corner, where he drilled a 3-pointer to put the C’s up eight with 1:54 to go. Brown proceeded to force a turnover on Durant on the next possession, and the Celtics coasted from there.

The Celtics, who had several double-digit leads throughout the night, took several good punches from Durant and the Suns but stayed in control.

“It’s about managing runs,” Mazzulla told reporters. “For the most part, I liked the discipline that we played with as far as game management, and I think that’s the biggest lesson that we took from last game and it’s the standard that we have to hold ourselves is just elite game management and elite discipline on both ends of the floor, and we had more possessions tonight of that than we did last game.”

Other takeaways from the win:

– The bench has been consistent for the Celtics all season and it was no different on Saturday as Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet gave them great minutes. That trio scored 27 points, including 14 from Kornet and 10 from Pritchard, but Mazzulla liked their defense even more.

“They were amazing. They were tremendous,” Mazzulla said. “I thought Payton changed the game, just overall with his defense. Him and Sam both are known as offensive guys but I think it’s their defense that’s really helped us this year. Luke’s ability to play versus a second unit and switching really gave us a great look. …

“That unit has been great for us all year, but tonight they were big-time.”

– Tatum played the entirety of the second half, which is certainly unusual. Mazzulla said the Celtics star asked him if he could, and he obliged.

Tatum went on to score 22 of his 29 points in the second half, including 13 in the fourth quarter as he bounced back from a pair of forgettable performances earlier this week. Still, he was hard on himself after the win.

“I finally stopped turning the ball over,” Tatum told ABC. “I’m thankful I got some great teammates because I stunk it up tonight.”

“It’s all about progression, just trying to get better every single day, having the right intentions, knowing that you’re not going to be perfect,” Tatum continued. “I’m tough on myself, but you gotta move on, move on to the next play, the next game, and that’s what you’re on a team for. You got great teammates and coaches to keep you uplifted and just stay with it.”

– The Celtics’ brief losing streak certainly exposed some of their flaws, but they didn’t let their struggles snowball. Mazzulla praised his group for keeping their composure through a short rough stretch.

“I think the most important thing was to handle the losses the way we handle the wins, and I think the guys showed a great maturity and great mindset and a great approach to the process when we’re winning, and that’s hard to do,” Mazzulla said. “Throughout that 11-game win streak, I didn’t see much slippage in the details and the effort and the things that we were doing and so you just have to maintain that through the losses, and so I think it’s really important to keep that balance.”