Trail Blazers turns Phoenix away in overtime, 121-119, to take two vs. Suns

Portland, Ore. (Katu) – The Portland Trail Blazers hit the glass hard in overtime and pulled down some important late rebounds to hold Phoenix 121-119 on Monday night at Moda Center.

Deandre Ayton put Portland in front of 113-111 on a short jumper in the field with 2:22 to play, and Blazers would do the rest of their damage from the free-c-c-castle line. Portland hit 8-for-10 (80%) down the stretch with Ayton, which knocked five in a row to keep Portland one step ahead.

Suns’ Devin Booker was buried and tried a corner 3 with 4.1 seconds to play. Booker, shooting 89% on free throw for the season, made his first two shots, but missed the third who would have tied the game.

Ayton grabbed the miss and added a free throw at the other end. Jerami Grant secured the victory with an offensive rebound that allowed the last seconds to cross the clock.

The teams traded the lead six times down the route in regulation before Phoenix forced overtime at 107-107, after Royce O’Neale hit a 3-Pointer with 2.1 seconds left.

“We’ve been on this series of playing well, playing together,” Ayton said. “It felt like an end game tonight. I like how we were together down the stretch – it was really basketball tonight. “

Ayton led Blazers with 25 points and 20 rebounds, while Deni Avdija scored 20 points on 8 of 12 (66.7%) shooting.

Booker ended with a game-high 34 points.

Portland led by as many as 14 points in the opening minute of the game. Blazers also ended with a nine-point advantage on Fastbreak.

Portland (21-29) sits 4.5 games behind Suns in the hunt for the final play-in-place as the season is approaching the All-Star break.

Blazers hosts Indiana at. 19 Tuesday in Moda Center.