The Portland Trail Blazers secured a gritty 114-110 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, claiming the 7th seed in the Western Conference.
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Both teams relied heavily on their stars in the first half. Devin Booker got going early, but Phoenix struggled to make threes. Despite cold outside shooting, the Suns shot well from inside the arc and ended the first quarter with a two-point lead.
In the second quarter, Deni Avdija and the Trail Blazers found an offensive rhythm from all three levels. They sank six out of their 10 long-range attempts in the second quarter, entering halftime with a three-point lead.
In the third quarter, both teams went ice cold on the offensive end. But at the end of an ugly third quarter, the Suns caught fire and went on a 16-0 extended scoring run to take a full control of the game.
The Blazers scored just four points in the first five minutes of the final quarter. In the final five minutes, two quick threes from Jrue Holiday and Avdija made it a three-point game.
Despite a late-game surge by Jalen Green, Holiday rained down two more threes in clutch time to retake a temporary lead. As both squads battled for the advantage, Avdija sank a lead-taking layup with 37 seconds to go. Five seconds later, Jordan Goodwin responded with a layup of his own.
Once again, Avdija got to the rim for a layup. With 16 seconds to play, the Suns took a timeout down by two. On the final play, Matisse Thybulle stoke the ball from Goodwin before Holiday threw down a dunk to top off the win.
Portland will now be the 7th seed matched up against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. The Suns have one more shot in Friday’s play-in matchup against the winner of Wednesday’s showdown between the Golden State Warriors and L.A. Clippers.
James Parker contributed to this story.
