Phoenix Suns fall for first time under Jay Triano, lose 114-107 to Portland Trail Blazers

For the first time under interim head coach Jay Triano, the Phoenix Suns walked off the court on the wrong side of the scoring ledger, losing 114-107 to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The game started out similarly to the first two wins, with Phoenix jumping out to an early 17-10 lead. However, the Suns allowed Portland to go on a 19-7 run to close the 1st quarter to lead 29-24. The Blazers would lead by as many as eight points, but unlike in the season-opening blowout, Phoenix never went away.

The Suns had the margin cut to 105-104 with 4:06 to play and 108-106 later in the 4th quarter before Damian Lillard, who had 25 points on a rough 7-of-21 shooting night, hit a runner over Tyler Ulis with 29.6 seconds to play to put Portland up 110-106. Devin Booker would miss a driving layup against Jusuf Nurkic on the next possession, and the Blazers made their free throws to close out the win.

Booker had his best scoring game of the season, leading all scorers with 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well for T.J. Warren. After scoring eight of Phoenix’s first 13 points and hitting four of his first five shots, Warren had just four points on 2-of-10 shooting the rest of the way. Alex Len also had an uneven performance, collecting 12 points and eight boards but allowing some bad habits to resurface.

Marquese Chriss, who was questionable to play tonight, was in the starting lineup but played only 20 minutes, scoring seven points in his time.

As usual, Portland was paced by its backcourt. Lillard and C.J. McCollum combined for 18 points in the 3rd quarter after having 18 combined in the whole first half. They would finish with 48 points but on 16-of-41 shooting (4 of 13 from 3). They got help from the supporting cast, though, as seven players scored in double figures for the Blazers. Nurkic had 17 points and nine rebounds.