National Basketball Association

Phoenix Suns v Portland Trailblazers 11/2 Preview

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Phoenix Suns (0-4) v Portland Trailblazers (2-2)

Wednesday 11/2/16 7:00pm

Talking Stick Resort Arena

Fox Sports Arizona / Arizona Sports 98.7

Season Series 0-0

All-Time Series – Phoenix Leads 119-96

Last matchup – Dec. 11, 2015 – Blazers 106 – Suns 96

Suns’ last game – 98-116 Loss to the Clippers

Blazers’ last game – 104-127 loss to the Warriors

Suns Scoring Averages – 100.5 PTS/G – 112.0 OPP PTS/G

Blazers Scoring Averages – 109.5 PTS/G – 114.5 OPP PTS/G

Preview

Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are off to an 0-4 start in the regular season, the franchises worst start through four games since the 1996-97 season in which the team began 0-13…The franchise has began at least 0-4 on one other occasion, the 1985-86 season when they began 0-9…Both their scoring and opponents scoring is in the bottom third of the league…TJ Warren leads the Suns in scoring averaging 21.3ppg; his career average is 9.3…Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker are shooting a paltry 6-31 from three combined…The Suns average 29.3 personal fouls per game, ranking 29th of 30 in the league…Their 16.5 turnovers per game ranks 28th in the league, and their opponent’s 17.0 turnovers per game ranks 2nd…However, led by Tyson Chandler’s 11.3 rebounds and T.J. Warren and Eric Bledsoe’s 6.0 rebounds per game, the Suns rank 7th in the league in total rebounds…Alex Len is playing in his first game since the two sides decided to not sign a contract extension…

Portland Trailblazers

The Portland Trailblazers are 2-2, which currently places them 5th in the Western Conference…The Blazers’ offense is 6th in the NBA, while their opponents scoring is last in the league…Festus Ezeli is their only notable injury with a left knee injury and has no timetable for return…Damian Lillard is off to a torrid start averaging 34.0ppg…With the Suns allowing 51pts to Russell Westbrook two games ago, look for Lillard to break 30 easily…Portland fouls at a similar clip to the Suns, averaging 24.8 per game, which ranks them 26th in the league…They average 15.3 turnovers per game which ranks them 23rd overall…The Blazers rank near the bottom third in both rebounds and rebounds allowed…Rookie Jake Layman entered the blowout loss to the Warriors late in the fourth quarter for his first NBA appearance, and subsequently made 5-7 three point shots on his way to scoring 17 points in eight minutes…His five three’s in the fourth quarter was one shy of former Sun and Blazer Cliff Robinson’s six in one quarter…

*All statistics are provided by basketball-reference.com.