The Phoenix Suns get another shot at the Portland Trail Blazers tonight, and this one comes with a little extra edge after Portland beat them on opening night at the Moda Center.
Before tipoff, Portland Trail Blazers On SI contributor Sahal Arwo laid out why the Blazers have been such a tough read early in the season. His answer: they’ve already shown they can win in more than one style. Portland has stacked up a 5-1 record by mixing clean offensive nights with grind-it-out road wins, and Arwo said that ability to handle adversity has become a key part of the team’s early identity.
That identity has been built on a selfless approach. Arwo pointed to a roster that has answered preseason questions about how the offense would work around Deni Avdija, Damian Lillard and the recently injured Ja Morant by leaning into team basketball.
Portland’s offense has been spread out - five players are averaging at least 10 points per game - and the defense has backed it up with a top-10 rating. The big question now is whether that buy-in holds when the schedule gets tougher.
One of the biggest surprises has been Toumani Camara. Known more for his defense, the forward has caught fire from deep, hitting exactly 50 percent of his 46 three-point attempts through the first six games.
That’s a sharp rise from the 37 percent he shot last season. Arwo said he doesn’t expect Camara to stay among the NBA’s best three-point shooters all year, but he’s clearly outperformed expectations so far.
There’s also a case to be made that Portland’s start is more than a short burst. Arwo noted that the Blazers’ only defeat came against the now 6-1 Memphis Grizzlies, and even in their wins, Portland hasn’t fully hit its ceiling yet. With teams like Oklahoma City and Minnesota dealing with injuries and several clubs around the league stumbling out of the gate, he sees a path for the Blazers to keep this going, even if the pace cools off.
For Phoenix, the assignment starts with Deni Avdija. Arwo said the Suns, who know him from last postseason’s play-in matchup, have to find a way to slow him down.
Avdija is averaging 23.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists, and he’s doing a lot of damage at the line with 9.8 free-throw attempts per game, which ranks fourth in the NBA. If the Suns can keep him from getting downhill and getting to the stripe, Arwo believes they can give themselves a real chance to hang around.
In Other News...
Suns Just Saw Why The Magic Are Already In Trouble
Orlandos rough opening to the 2026-27 season has been hard to miss, and the recent loss to the Suns only sharpened the concerns around a team trying to find its footing without Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs. The Magic have stumbled to a 2-6 start, and the issues have been familiar from night to night: too many turnovers, shaky ball control and an offense that has had trouble generating steady scoring when its top options are unavailable.
For Phoenix, the matchup offered a clear look at why the Magic are already under pressure to stabilize things quickly. The shot-making has not been there at a high enough level, especially from 3-point range, and the absence of Banchero and Suggs has left Orlando searching for answers it has not yet found. Until the Magic clean up the mistakes and get more consistent production back in the lineup, the early-season hole is only going to feel deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Already Searching For Answers After This Brutal Start
The Suns are already tinkering with the pieces around their rough start, and the latest adjustment came before the matchup with Orlando when they swapped Khaman Maluach out of the first unit and moved Oso Ighodaro into the starting center spot. It is the kind of early-season change that signals urgency without quite tipping into panic, especially for a team still trying to settle on a workable rotation and find some stability around its core.
Jordan Ott also said rookie forward Koa Peat is close to cracking the rotation, another sign that Phoenix is looking inward for answers before reaching for something bigger. Jordan Goodwin and Rasheer Fleming are still sidelined but day-to-day, while Suns analyst Gerald Bourguet has already floated point guard trade ideas if the skid continues, though he would rather see the team exhaust its internal fixes first. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Booker Looked Like Himself In A Suns Win That Solved Nothing
Devin Booker looked like himself again in a Suns win that at least offered a familiar sight in an uneven start to the season. Phoenix beat the Orlando Magic 117-104 on the final stop of Orlandos four-game West Coast trip, with Booker leading the way with 28 points, eight assists and three steals while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Even so, the result did not exactly answer every question around this team. Orlandos 25 turnovers gave Phoenix plenty of easy offense, but the Magic also controlled the glass with 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points, a reminder that the Suns still have issues to sort through even when Booker is carrying the scoring load. [Read more 🡒]