The Phoenix Suns are hoping to establish a new winning streak tonight as road warriors against the Portland Trail Blazers, and they’ll utilize this starting five:
- Devin Booker
- Ryan Dunn
- Dillon Brooks
- Royce O’Neale
- Mark Williams
Grayson Allen (quad) and Jalen Green (hamstring) are out for Phoenix tonight while Jrue Holiday leads a cast of Blazers who will miss action, which includes Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson.
The Suns previously were on a five-game winning streak before the Hawks erased a 22-point lead late in Sunday’s matchup.
Booker, when speaking with reporters ahead of tonight, says things were addressed properly.
“To blow a 20-point lead in one quarter a lot has to go wrong, so we went through it as a team. Everything was fixable. It was just a domino effect, one thing after another. That hasn’t been us for most of the season,” said Booker (h/t Duane Rankin).
“It’s a good thing for us to learn from and get better from. We still have to continue to play with pace regardless if we’re up. I think we tried to slow it down a little bit while they were playing desperation basketball. Can’t have any live ball turnovers, closing out possessions and getting rebounds.”
Booker also received a standing ovation last time Phoenix visited the Trail Blazers after becoming the Suns’ all-time scoring leader.
“(Blazers fans) gave me an ovation. Definitely didn’t have to with being a road player, but there’s actually a lot of Suns fans here usually, too,” Booker added.
Brooks is fresh off back to back 30-point games for the first time in his career while also accumulating a few technicals to begin the 2025-26 season.
“Deal with all his stuff (laughs), but it’s definitely nice having him on this side,” Booker continued to Rankin when asked about playing with Brooks.
“A high character individual, too, outside of what everybody will say. An extremely hard worker. It’s contagious. He sets the tone a lot of the nights. It starts with him and it goes all the way throughout our team.”
O’Neale continues to be a strong three-point sniper in Phoenix, and with Allen’s continued absence he’ll again be looked upon to spread the floor and keep Portland honest with his 43.7% shooting from downtown.
Phoenix hopes to keep up with a Portland team that entered tonight ranked second in pace across the league.
The Trail Blazers have lost their last four-of-five games entering tonight, returning home from a long road trip.
Opening tip is slated for 9:00 PM MST.
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