Devin Booker scored 12 points in the first quarter and the Phoenix Suns led by as many as eight, but Portland kept pace behind 11 first-quarter points from Jrue Holiday as the Trail Blazers - Suns play-in game moved into the kind of late-night window that can turn a season on one quarter. The winner of the game will claim the West's No. 7 seed and a first-round matchup with the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs.
Portland entered at 42-40 and Phoenix at 45-37, with the Suns listed as 2.5-point favorites and the over-under set at 216.5 points. The game was scheduled for April 15, 2026, as the final contest of the night in the NBA play-in tournament, which began Tuesday with eight teams fighting for the last four playoff spots.
That format has already delivered a razor-thin finish elsewhere. On April 14, 2026, the Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime, ending Miami's season and keeping Charlotte alive for a berth. LaMelo Ball won it with a driving layup with 4.7 seconds left, and Coby White's clutch 3-point shooting helped force overtime.
The Suns and Trail Blazers are now playing for the same thing Charlotte just protected: one more game, and then another chance to keep going. The winner here moves straight into the postseason bracket, while the loser is finished before the playoffs start in earnest.
Charlotte will face the loser of Wednesday's Philadelphia 76ers-Orlando Magic game on Friday for the East's No. 8 seed, and the winner of that game will take the No. 8 seed and a first-round matchup with the Detroit Pistons. For Portland and Phoenix, there is no such safety net tonight. One team leaves as the West's No. 7 seed. The other goes home.
