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The rested Blazers had more than enough in their tanks to beat the Suns Tuesday night. Phoenix couldn’t recreate their magic from days prior, and Portland defended well enough to keep the Suns from raining threes. Or they just randomly missed them this time.
A few takeaways from what would have been seen as a pedestrian game before the season began, but now qualifies as a big win:
Yay playoffs! (?) Portland gained a game on Memphis in the race for the 8th seed, just 3.5 games behind with 17 to play. But they lost positioning to Phoenix if you’re excited for a better draft pick. No judgment.
More long minutes. Playing one of the worst teams in the West shouldn’t require full minutes for the starters, but the Blazers proved otherwise. The starters even played some of the minutes early in the fourth, to prevent the “bench lull”. Lillard played 40 minutes. To beat Phoenix.
A solid night. Damian Lillard is still rounding into form, shooting 8-17 for a tidy 25 points. Perhaps he could have scored more, but it just wasn’t necessary tonight because..
Dispersed scoring. Every starter scored in double figures, and that was too much for Phoenix.
The Blazers get a day off, then take on the Grizzlies, who blew a game against the Magic tonight.