October 22, 2026 at 6:06 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Blazers bury Suns 124-83 in opener, flipping a year of road-team wins

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Portland opened the season with a 41-point rout of Phoenix. Damian Lillard scored 25, Deni Avdija played through ankle soreness, and Ja Morant ran the offense.

For a year, the road team had owned this matchup. Phoenix and Portland split four meetings last season and the visitors won every one, Portland's play-in win in April among them. Wednesday night in the opener the Blazers stayed home and made it a rout, beating the Suns 124-83. Phoenix never found a way back into it.

Devin Booker had said he wanted to be more aggressive, and he was the one Sun who played that way. He led Phoenix with 23 points and logged a team-high 29 minutes, but the help was thin. Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks each scored 10, and Miles Bridges had 8 over the same 29 minutes. Luke Kennard, questionable coming in, did not play, though coach Jordan Ott had sounded optimistic about a debut.

Portland had its own question mark in Deni Avdija, listed with right ankle soreness. He started and played 23 minutes, finishing with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, the only double-double of the night. Toumani Camara also scored 18, and Scoot Henderson added 15 off the bench. Donovan Clingan had 11 points and 7 rebounds in 21 minutes.

The Suns' roster looked like what it is, a team that sent out Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale for Bridges and got more size and less shooting. Khaman Maluach pulled down 6 rebounds in 17 minutes, but the Suns had little to show for the new shape. The Blazers' new backcourt had no such trouble. Damian Lillard scored 25 in 24 minutes with 6 assists, and Ja Morant, newly arrived, had 14 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. One night proves little about how they fit, but it was an easy first look.

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