For the second time in as many weeks, the Portland Trail Blazers overwhelmed the floundering Phoenix Suns, this time in Phoenix’s own house, on the way to a 132-119 road victory Wednesday. With the dub, the Blazers continue the team’s best start since 2018 by improving to 6-1 (5-0 on the road) and move into first place in the Western Conference by virtue of Memphis and Houston losses Wednesday.
Unlike the season opener on Oct. 21, the Blazers didn’t punk the Suns from the outset and even trailed 34-29
after the first quarter following a hot-shooting start from Devin Booker. But Portland’s open looks soon started finding the bottom of the net, and the Blazers buried Phoenix beneath a torrid shooting performance.
It was not all without cost, as Portland saw Vit Krejci go down with an ankle injury late in the third quarter after a collision with Miles Bridges. Krejci went to the floor immediately and was in visible pain before exiting the game and heading to the locker room.
Damian Lillard led the way for Portland with 25 points on 9-15 shooting to go along with 5 assists.
Booker was the go-to guy for the Suns again, finishing with a game-high 33 points.
What We Noticed
The Blazers finished with 27 assists, and at times, it felt like they had an extra man on the floor for how open some of those created looks were. Without much of a true rim protector, both Lillard and Avdija were able to drive into the paint and collapse the defense at will, which led to a healthy balance of attacking the rim and drive-and-kick opportunities. Nobody cashed in more on those tertiary opportunities than Jrue Holiday, who didn’t take a shot from inside the arc but finished a scorching 5-9 from deep for 15 points in 28 minutes off the bench.
When the Suns sold out to defend the perimeter, the ball often found its way into the outstretched and often wide-open hands of Donovan Clingan underneath the basket, who turned in his best offensive performance of the season with 24 points to go along with 11 boards and 3 blocks.
Player of the Game
Likely more than a couple bruises were caused by Deni Avdija, who played bully-ball with Phoenix defenders all night on his way to a near-triple-double with 21 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds.
He was rarely not in attack mode, getting downhill into the chest of defenders and consistently making the correct decision with the ball once he got there. Nobody was on the receiving end of that punishment more than Dillon Brooks, which was satisfying because he is a guy who usually gives out more than he takes.
But ultimately, it didn’t matter who the Suns threw at Avdija; it didn’t seem to bother him. He remained reliably efficient (7-16 FG) and took decent care of the ball (3 TOs) despite acting as the primary playmaker for most of the night.
Up Next
Box Score
The Blazers will get a day off before heading back to L.A. for a nationally televised rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip is set for 7 p.m. PST on Prime Video.
