Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers Game Preview: Battle Of The Back-Courts

What: Phoenix Suns vs. Portland Trail Blazers

When: 7:30pm AZ time

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ

Watch (Locally): FoxSports Arizona

Listen: 98.7 FM Arizona Sports

The Phoenix Suns have now won two very close games in a row...One on a Mirza Teletevic hope-and-a-prayer put-back shot that happened to bounce in the Suns favor against the Chicago Bulls to close out a grueling road trip, and the other against the Orlando Magic who fought back valiantly in the 4th quarter, causing the Suns to almost blow a 10-point lead and yet another winnable game. But Phoenix was able to pull it out in the end .

The 9-14 Portland Trailblazers are coming off of a 105-100 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road Tuesday night, but the Blazers held an 18 point lead at the end of the first half, before LeBron James remembered that he was LeBron James, and became an unstoppable force of domination...leaving the hopes and dreams of Portland fans in his wake.

Despite their record, the Blazers have shown the ability to play with the best, and certainly have the talent to win. The Back Court combo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are one of the few equals, if not superiors, to the Suns' one-two punch of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight.

Which tandem will come out on top? Can the Suns continue their winning ways and pull out another home win tonight?

Probable Starters

Prediction

The Suns are on a bit of a roll, even if barely winning by the skin of their teeth. Despite Markieff Morris becoming nearly obsolete, and Tyson Chandler out the past several games with a lingering hamstring injury, the Suns have stepped up and found not only reliable starters in Jon Leuer and now Alex Len, but a very capable rookie in Devin Booker.

While Phoenix has been impressive at times, they have yet to put together a game where everyone really has it going. Besides Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, and to a lesser extent Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic, the rest of the Suns have had trouble maintaining consistency game in and game out..

But one gets the impression that it's all finally starting to come together.

For some reason, I get the feeling that this could be the night. If Booker, Warren, and Len (along with Leuer and Mirza) can all have good, productive games, and contribute to the stability of the Suns back-court tandem, the Blazers simply won't have an answer for them.

Conversely, if it becomes a battle of the back courts, with little help from the rest of the players on the floor for the Suns, they could easily lose this game.

But I'm betting on the former.

Suns win 116-102.