The Phoenix Suns (6-1) will host the Portland Trail Blazers (5-2) on Friday. These same teams will also play in Phoenix again on Saturday. Portland took the first head-to-head meeting at home 113-111 in overtime on October 21.
The Portland Trail Blazers opened the season with four straight wins before losing to Miami 119-98 on October 26 in a game where Damian Lillard had to leave in the third quarter with a right calf strain. Without Lillard, the Blazers beat Houston 125-111 last Friday but lost to Memphis 111-106 on Wednesday. Anfernee Simons has scored 30 and 31 points in the two full games without Lillard, bringing his season average up to 22 ppg.
Fought hard. @CarMax Quote of the Night pic.twitter.com/eUSksKqJmN
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) November 3, 2022
Lillard, who averaged 31 ppg through five contests, will not be playing this weekend against the Suns, and Anfernee Simons is questionable with a left foot inflammation. Lillard scored 41 points in the Blazers' previous win over the Suns. If Simons also cannot play, other players will have to step up significantly for Portland to compete on Friday. Jerami Grant is the team's third-leading scorer averaging 16.7 ppg, followed by Jusuf Nurkic with 14.9 ppg and fourth in the NBA averaging 12.3 rebounds a game.
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