NBA Basketball

2026-04-14 - Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Portland Trail Blazers @ Phoenix Suns
United States : NBA Basketball Play In Tournament
Tuesday 14th April 2026 - Scheduled 10:30pm EST
3:30am (British Time)

Preview

The NBA landscape can change rapidly and that has certainly been the case for these two Western Conference teams entering the Play In Tournament in 2026.

The Portland Trail Blazers (42-40) won five of the last seven games to move up into the Number 8 Seed in the Western Conference and that has offered them two chances to move into the First Round of the Playoffs.

In 2019, the Trail Blazers were swept by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, but they have missed the Playoffs in four consecutive seasons. They hit a low point of 21 wins in 2024, but the Trail Blazers look to be moving in a positive direction with more wins in each of the last two regular seasons and finishing with the first winning record since the 2021 season when last making the First Round of the Playoffs.

A Covid impacted season was shortened to 72 games that season, but Portland have looked pretty good this year and there is room for improvement. Experience of playing a First Round Series could be valuable, even if the Trail Blazers are not going to offer a lot of resistance to either of the top two Seeds in the West, and so this feels like an important next step with two chances to make the Playoffs next weekend.

The opening Play In Tournament game is against the Phoenix Suns (45-37) who had been pushing for a top six finish for much of the season, but who came up short and get to host this one.

The Suns lost the NBA Finals in 2021 and then came up short in back to back Western Conference Second Round Series before another early Playoff exit. A decision was made to make a big swing for the fences when trading for Bradley Beal and bringing in Kevin Durant, but two poor years including missing the post-season last year meant a reset.

Devin Booker remains on the roster and Dillon Brooks has been a big support, and Phoenix have outperformed pre-season expectations to finish as high as the Number 7 Seed. They did end the regular season lacking some consistency with three wins and four losses, but the Suns have had one eye on getting all of the key contributors up to full health ahead of the Play In Tournament as they look to win at least one of potentially two games coming up to return to the First Round.

Phoenix won two of the three regular season games between the teams and that will give them some confidence, especially as the one they lost to the Trail Blazers was without both Booker and Brooks.

Both teams will enter this game with some confidence- they are both pretty good Defensively and that will put some pressure on the big names on the other side of the court.

This is no longer the NBA of a few years ago which was all about the strength of the three pointers, but Portland are still very good from outside the arc and that makes them dangerous when they find a rhythm. The Trail Blazers also ended the season with more wins on the board in recent outings as Phoenix struggled without some important pieces of the roster.

Some of those may still be missing on Tuesday, which could give Portland the edge in what should be a competitive contest.

The total points line does look a little low for any Western Conference game, but there is a feeling that the Defensive players could be the big impact ones for both teams. That could help contain the scoring to some extent and may be better than looking at the spread, which looks very competitive with Phoenix down as a narrow favourite.

The Suns may deserve that edge, but this Portland team are dangerous enough to earn the upset and ultimately it may come down to some big stops to determine which team moves through to face the San Antonio Spurs in the First Round of the Playoffs in a Series beginning on Sunday.