3 Biggest Keys for Suns in Play-In Matchup vs Trail Blazers

PHOENIX -- Postseason basketball is here, and for the first time ever, the Phoenix Suns will be competing in the play-in.

Phoenix will be hosting the Portland Trail Blazers to kick off what should be an eventful Western Conference postseason in the 7-8 matchup tonight.

The Suns are favored heading into the game and the No. 7 seed has never missed the playoffs since the play-in started, but Phoenix's recent play suggests this matchup could be pretty close as the winner will advance to take on the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

The loser will play the winner of tomorrow night's 9-10 game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors Friday night with the winner earning the No. 8 seed in the playoffs and a first-round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Here are the three biggest keys for the Suns in tonight's matchup against Portland:

Force Turnovers, Stay Out of Foul Trouble

Apr 5, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks (3) celebrates after scoring against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Trail Blazers finished the 2025-26 regular season averaging a staggering 17.3 turnovers per game, which was the highest mark by any team since way back in the 2014-15 season.

Without a true point guard, Portland is very susceptible to turning the ball over and accounted for 58 turnovers in the three regular season meetings against the Suns this season.

Phoenix plays at its best when it's forcing turnovers and generating easy buckets in transition, so this could play right into the Suns' hands.

The key for the Suns will be to find a balance of trying to have active hands to force steals, but stay out of foul trouble, and this particularly applies to Dillon Brooks.

Brooks, who has struggled to stay out of foul trouble since returning from a fractured hand two weeks ago, will likely be tasked with guarding Deni Avdija, who was third in the NBA this season in free throws per game (9.2 attempts).

"Keep your hands off the cookie jar, or else he'll find them," Suns star Devin Booker said of Avdija. "But you don't want to be hesitant and let him just score the basketball, either. So it's finding that balance, finding a way to be disrupted."

The Suns only narrowly won the turnover battle in the three regular season meetings, as they also turned the ball over a lot themselves (52 times), so winning this area could be a huge key tonight.

Overcome Size Differential

Feb 3, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) grabs a rebound over Phoenix Suns guard/forward Dillon Brooks (3) during the second half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images | Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

Since the Suns got their full rotation back healthy a couple weeks ago, they have used a smaller lineup and really struggled against bigger teams.

They will have to find a way to overcome this against a Blazers team that thrives on using their size to their advantage.

Portland ranks first in the NBA with 18.4 second-chance points per game and second with 14.1 offensive rebounds per game.

Donovan Clingan specifically averaged 15.3 points and 13.3 rebounds (5.0 offensive) in the three matchups against the Suns this season, so Phoenix will have to get a body on him and be physical with him.

Portland's perimeter players also love to attack the paint, as Avdija was first in the league in drives per game (19.4) and the Blazers ranked third as a team (58.1 per game) with players such as Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Jrue Holiday also trying to get downhill.

Going back to the first key, the Suns can combat this by forcing turnovers and making the Blazers become jump shooters by cutting off the drives the best they can.

On the other side of the ball, Portland's length could cause Phoenix's offense to get stagnant at times and lead to the Suns to turning the ball over themselves and taking ill-advised shots.

"We'll have to value each possession like we've talked about for months now, win the possession game, try to find high quality shots," Suns coach Jordan Ott said.

Don't Beat Yourselves

Mar 24, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) and guard Jalen Green (4) against the Denver Nuggets at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Suns have very much been a team trying to learn itself in a limited amount of time since getting Brooks and Mark Williams healthy, which led to most of their struggles to close out the year regardless of the opponent.

Phoenix already did not have a lot of ball movement offensively, but it has not yet been able to figure out how Booker, Jalen Green and Brooks can all play off each other, which has led to a ripple effect of players struggling in their new roles.

Booker, who closed out the year very strong individually, will, and should be, looking to carry the load offensively and using his postseason experience to lead the team on that side of the ball with his scoring and playmaking.

Green and Brooks will have to step up and be efficient offensively while also being willing to share the ball.

Collin Gillespie, who was Phoenix's best player against Portland in the regular season (22.3 points and 6.3 assists), will have to find his groove again after some pretty poor performances in a new role off the bench to end the year and play the two-man game well with Oso Ighodaro.

If Phoenix's habits from earlier in the season - forcing turnovers, playing with confidence offensively and crashing the offensive glass - that led to them exceeding all preseason expectations and have come out in little spurts over these past couple weeks are prevalent tomorrow, the Suns will put themselves in a great position to move on to face San Antonio.

Add us as a preferred source on Google