By ReutersPublished On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026Deni Avdija scored 41 points, and his three-point play with 16.1 seconds remaining capped the Portland Trail Blazers’ comeback from an 11-point fourth- quarter deficit for a 114-110 victory over the host Phoenix Suns in a National Basketball Association (NBA) play-in game on Tuesday.The Trail Blazers ended a four-year playoff drought and will open a best-of- seven Western Conference playoff series against the No 2 seed San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe Suns will have another chance to make the playoffs on Friday, when they will host the winner of the Wednesday play-in game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers.The winner of the Friday contest will be the No 8 seed and will meet the defending league champion and No 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of a seven-game set on Sunday.Jordan Goodwin sank a reserve layup with 32.5 seconds left to put the Suns up 110-109, but he missed a free throw after being fouled on the play. The Blazers rebounded and called a timeout to set up Avdija’s drive through the lane.Phoenix’s Jalen Green missed a 3-point attempt with six seconds remaining. On the rebound, Portland’s Matisse Thybulle stole the ball from Goodwin and found Jerami Grant alone for a dunk with six-tenths of a second remaining.Avdija had 14 points in the fourth quarter, and he finished with 12 assists and seven rebounds.Jrue Holiday added 21 points and Grant had 16, including two late 3-pointers as the Blazers finished the game on a 17-5 run. Advertisement Green scored 35 points, Devin Booker had 2 …
