00:00The Portland Trail Blazers now stand just one victory over the Sacramento Kings, away from
00:05meeting the Phoenix Suns in the play-in tournament. That potential matchup would take place on Tuesday
00:10evening at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Portland, currently holding a record of 41 wins and 40
00:15losses, secured the eighth seed in the Western Conference after defeating the Los Angeles
00:20Clippers on Friday night in a game that carried the intensity of a postseason contest. With that
00:26win, the Blazers also claimed the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Clippers, leaving only one
00:31regular season game remaining on their schedule. For Los Angeles to climb back into the eighth spot,
00:37two specific results must unfold on Sunday. The Clippers would need to defeat the Golden State
00:41Warriors, while the Trail Blazers would have to fall to a Sacramento Kings team that enters the
00:46game with a record of 22 wins and 59 losses. Meanwhile the Phoenix Suns have already solidified
00:51their position as the seventh seed in the play-in bracket, that was officially clinched on Wednesday,
00:57and the team's final regular season record, stands at 44 wins and 37 losses. During the regular season
01:04series between Phoenix and Portland, the Suns won two of the three meetings, their most recent encounter
01:09took place on February 22, a game in which the Trail Blazers came out on top by a final score
01:14of 92-77.
01:15It is worth noting the unique circumstances of that contest. Portland All-Star Denny Avdija was on
01:21the floor for just a single minute, while Phoenix was without two of its core contributors, as Devin
01:26Booker and Dylan Brooks were both sidelined. In fact, Booker has not faced the Trail Blazers in a game
01:34setting since the month of November. Looking back at Friday night's action in Portland, the Blazers
01:40established an early lead of 20 points during the first half, the Clippers however, mounted a comeback
01:46that briefly gave them a two-point advantage, Portland responded decisively in the fourth quarter,
01:52outscoring Los Angeles 30-13, and Denny Avdija finished the night, with a total of 35 points,
01:58to seal the victory. If the standings hold, and the seventh-seeded Suns do meet the eighth-seeded
02:05Trail Blazers, that play-in contest is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m., Mountain Standard Time,
02:11on Tuesday. The broadcast will be available exclusively on Prime Video, the stakes are
02:16clearly defined, the winner of the 7-8 matchup will advance to face the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs,
02:21in the opening round of the playoffs, the losing team will return home to host a win-or-go-home
02:27game
02:28on Friday, awaiting the victor of the play-in matchup between the ninth and tenth seeds.
02:32This moment carries a sense of new territory for the Phoenix Suns organization. It will mark the
02:38franchise's first participation in the play-in tournament, since the format was fully adopted
02:43by the league, back in 2021. Before any of that unfolds, the Suns do have one remaining regular
02:49season contest on Sunday. They will travel to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, though that game carries
02:54no implications for their final seeding placement. So as we look toward Tuesday and the possibility of
02:59hosting Portland, how much does the memory of that February 22 loss, with a depleted roster,
03:04actually matter to you when assessing the Suns' chances, in a full-strength do-or-die atmosphere?
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