Preview: Suns Face Blazers for Final Time

The Phoenix Suns (20-18) are quickly approaching the halfway point of their season as they are set to play tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers (10-28).

Phoenix is coming off of a near-20 point win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, while Portland has struggled as of late to say the least.

The Suns come into this game with an entirely clean health bill- save for Damion Lee.

Portland's most notable absence will be Shaedon Sharpe, while Deandre Ayton is seen as a game time decision going into the day.

Three things to watch for tonight:

Blazers Recent Performance

The Trail Blazers are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are thoroughly struggling in navigating the post Damian Lillard era.

Portland's last three defeats have been particularly disheartening - a 28 point loss and a 23 point loss that was sandwiched between a mind-numbing 62 point defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The 62 point difference in a singular game is one of the most lopsided results in league history- and it's abundantly clear that the Chauncey Billups-led squad is in the middle of a total reset.

Ayton Update

Deandre Ayton has experienced an up-and-down debut season in Portland.

The former Sun has improved on the defensive side of the ball, but has regressed on offense both in volume and efficiency.

The talented big man has also been out since he suffered a knee injury on Dec 23.

While DA was eventually ruled out of Portland's most recent game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, there was hope that he had progressed enough to be able to play prior to the eventual decision to sit out.

This also marks the last opportunity Ayton has to play his former team in the 2023/24 campaign.

Ayton's averages in December were more than modest: 13 PPG/10.7 RPG on 45.9% from the field.

If Ayton were to return tonight, it would mark a difficult task to return against a squad he's struggled against in the previous two matchups he was involved in.

Bol Continues to Impress

Suns C Bol Bol returned from a three-game absence due to an ankle sprain on Thursday night and continued his strong string of performances against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bol stuffed the stat sheet in the victorious effort for Phoenix- dropping 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in 17 minutes of action.

The big man has impacted games in which he has been included in the rotation- playing largely high-IQ ball within the offense and using his physical attributes to be a positive force on the defensive end.

Bol will presumably get a chance tonight to continue to etch his way into the rotation for the rest of the season- and perhaps a potential postseason run.

Phoenix and Portland are set to tip off shortly after 7 PM Arizona time.