Phoenix coach Jordan Ott is confident regarding the host Phoenix Suns’ mindset entering their play-in tournament game against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be juiced and ready to rock,” Ott said as the Suns look to return to the postseason after missing out last year.<\/p>\n
Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter’s advice to his players comes from his seven seasons of NBA experience as a player, including five in the postseason.<\/p>\n
Portland has not made the playoffs since 2021, and it has not won a playoff series since 2019, when it fell to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n
“Play free,” said Splitter, who won an NBA title with San Antonio in 2014.<\/p>\n
“You know, you can play that game super tense. It’s a balance between playing hard and playing free a little bit. You cannot be in fear. You just have to play hard and enjoy that.”<\/p>\n
The seventh-seeded Suns and eighth-seeded Trail Blazers begin the two-for-one round of the NBA extra season Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The winner advances to the eight-team playoffs, with Game 1 set for Sunday at the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n
The loser has another chance — it will host a second play-in game Friday against the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors contest Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Phoenix won two of three in the season series, winning twice in Portland but losing at home in the most recent meeting Feb. 22, a 92-77 win for the Blazers with both teams missing key pieces.<\/p>\n
Suns leading scorers Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks did not play, while Blazers leading scorer Deni Avdija left 59 seconds in after suffering a recurrence of a back injury.<\/p>\n
Ott held out Booker, Brooks and his other starters in the regular-season finale, a 135-103 win at Oklahoma City on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Booker and Brooks were rested, but questions surround the availability of Jalen Green (knee) and Jordan Goodwin (ankle), who left the Wednesday victory over Dallas with injuries.<\/p>\n
“Whoever’s available, we’ll make it work,” Ott said. “We know we are a competitive group. We have more than enough to go out there and play and play as hard as we possibly can.”<\/p>\n
Avdija had 25 points and 10 assists in the Blazers’ 122-120 victory over Sacramento that clinched the eighth seed Sunday, and 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan had his fourth straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Clingan had 23 points and 13 rebounds in the Feb. 22 game.<\/p>\n
The Blazers have won five of seven and seven of 10. The Suns have won six of the last 16, many of those without Brooks (fractured hand).<\/p>\n
“They’ve been playing well lately,” Ott said of Portland. “It’s a really good defense. They’re in a different coverage, where they just funnel everything to the big (Clingan).<\/p>\n
“They are super active, long on the wings, play super physical. Offensively they play fast in transition and they drive the basketball. It’ll be a challenge, the same challenge that we’ve seen with them before.”<\/p>\n
Splitter took over when Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was placed on administrative leave after being arrested in October in a federal illegal gambling investigation.<\/p>\n
“Stuff happens,” Splitter said. “I think we went through everything you can imagine. Of course it is going to be a tough game. Jordan Ott is a great coach. A lot of pressure. You just have to enjoy that, knowing it is going to be part of their lives now, playing these important games.”<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n
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