Portland keeps winning away from home
Five road games, five wins. The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns 132-119 on Wednesday night and the unbeaten away record is still intact. At 6-1 overall, this is the franchise’s best start since it opened 10-1 in 1999-2000. That team made the Western Conference finals and lost a seven-game series to the Lakers, the eventual champions.
Damian Lillard tied his season high with 25 points. Deni Avdija added 21 points and 12 assists, and Donovan Clingan posted 24 points and 11 rebounds for a second straight double-double. Jrue Holiday came off the bench for 15, including a season-high five three-pointers.
The game turned in the second quarter. Portland went on a 43-25 run, shot 14 of 19 in the period and led 72-59 at the break. Lillard’s short jumper in the final minute of the third pushed it to 22 points, and the Blazers took a 104-85 lead into the fourth.
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Booker fouls out again, Suns slide to four straight losses
Devin Booker scored 33 points and still watched the finish from the bench, fouling out for the second game in a row. He had gone to the locker room with 2:51 left in the third quarter after appearing to be hit on the head by Robert Williams III on a layup attempt. He came back with 9:59 to play but did not score again.
Jalen Green had 22 for Phoenix and Miles Bridges finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, four of his makes coming from deep. Bridges cut the gap to 13 at 120-107 with 4:11 left, but the Suns never got closer than nine. They have now lost four in a row.
The glass told its own story. Portland won the rebounding battle 47-39 and shot 51.2% from the field. Entering the night, Phoenix was tied for 30th in rebounding margin while the Blazers led the league in rebounding percentage.
A lopsided series so far
This was the second meeting of the season and the second Portland win. On October 21 the Blazers scored the first 21 points of the game and crushed the Suns 124-83, with Lillard also putting up 25. The 5-0 road start is the second-longest season-opening road winning streak the franchise has managed since 1990-91, when it won its first eight away games.
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