Key Plays Go Right for Celtics : NBA:McHale makes second three-point field goal of his career to help Boston defeat Suns, 126-118.

The Boston Celtics could do little wrong Sunday.

Kevin McHale sparked a 16-2 run with only the second three-point field goal of his career at the end of the first quarter and the Celtics went on to beat the Phoenix Suns, 126-118.

“They got left-handed hooks, right-handed hooks, long-range shots, whatever they needed, they got,” Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “They played great. They shot the eyes out of it.”

The Suns’ Kevin Johnson, who had 28 points, said: “When the Celtics play like that, they’re almost impossible to beat. If they’re an up-and-down team, they were certainly up today.

“One way to stop our break is to shoot a good field-goal percentage, and the Celtics did that.”

The Celtics made 49 of 84 shots--58.3%.

“We came out and played great ball and we got a response from everyone,” Celtic Coach Jimmy Rodgers said.

“Super Bowl Sunday, national TV, sure there’s something extra special,” Rodgers said. “We’re the only game being played in the league and that’s a great motivating factor.”

It was Boston’s eighth consecutive Super Bowl Sunday victory.

“We wanted to outrun them down the floor, but we weren’t able to,” said the Suns’ Tom Chambers, who led all scorers with 40 points. “They got a good effort out of everybody. But as great as they played, we were on their tail the whole time.”

Larry Bird scored 22 points, McHale 21, Robert Parish 17 and Reggie Lewis 16 as Phoenix suffered its second consecutive loss after winning 10 in a row.

“That’s one game this week,” McHale said. “It doesn’t do any good to play the way we did today and play like we did in Washington the other night. The way we play is pathetic sometimes.”

The Suns led, 35-27, when McHale made his three-pointer from 23 feet. McHale scored two more baskets as the Celtics surged to a 43-37 lead in the early minutes of the second quarter.

Boston widened the margin to 10 points, saw Phoenix close within two, and held a 63-59 lead at halftime.

The Celtics led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter.