The Phoenix Suns visit Moda Center to take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
The Suns (2-5) are coming off a tough 119-108 loss in Los Angeles versus the Lakers, on Friday. Despite the loss, the Suns have much to be excited about as their young star Devin Booker exploded for his second career-high in points in the last week. Booker dropped a career-high 38 points in a win over the Pelicans last Friday and followed-up with a new career-high 39 points versus the Lakers on Sunday; where he shot 13-of-29 through 45 minutes, while 29 of his points came in the second half. Eric Bledsoe chipped in 19 points in 30 minutes, while T.J. Warren added 22 points and six rebounds in 39 minutes. Meanwhile, even though Tyson Chandler and Alex Len combined for 23 rebounds, the Suns were out-rebounded by 22 in their loss on Sunday. Larry Nance Jr. suffered a concussion early in Sunday’s game after hitting his head on the hardwood, and remains sidelined for Tuesday’s contest.
The Trail Blazers (4-3) are riding a two-game win streak, most recently defeating the Grizzlies in Memphis on Sunday. It was the first game of the season that Damian Lillard did not lead his team in scoring, but that was not a problem as C.J. McCollum stepped it up on his was to a career-night. McCollum tallied 37 points to tie his career-high, on 13-of-23 shooting. McCollum scored 16 of his points in the fourth quarter and also tied a career-high with six three-pointers. Lillard finished the game with 19 points, after averaging 34.2 coming into the contest. The Blazers have scored 100 points in all their games so far this season but will need to diversify their offense just slightly to keep other teams guessing, as they only managed 24 points in the paint in their last game. Meanwhile, the Blazers fell short 118-115 in their last meeting with the Suns, which took place on November 2nd, in Phoenix.
