Rip City Rolls: Dame Comes Home, Blazers Bury Suns by 41
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHX | 12 | 27 | 27 | 17 | 83 |
| POR | 43 | 29 | 35 | 17 | 124 |
MODA CENTER, PORTLAND. Your correspondent has filed from a lot of opening nights, and this one was finished after twelve minutes. Portland scored 43 points in the first quarter, held Phoenix to 12, and spent the next three quarters adding to it. The final was 124-83 in front of 19,367. It's the Blazers' first win of 2026-27, and nobody in the building will forget it soon.
Dame, home
Damian Lillard's first regular-season home game in Portland since 2023 went the way the city hoped. He had 25 points in 24 minutes on 7-of-12 shooting, made 6 of 10 threes and all five of his free throws, and added 6 assists. He was +23 and sat for the whole fourth quarter on a night when he didn't need to play it.
Ja starts, and makes it count
Settling the pregame debate (Reuters and The Oregonian said start, Andscape's Marc J. Spears said bench), Ja Morant started. His Blazers debut: 14 points on 6-of-8, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 23 minutes. His +33 was the best on the floor.
Avdija's ankle? Fine
Deni Avdija was questionable with right ankle soreness, then started and posted a double-double: 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 23 minutes.
Camara, the quiet killer
Toumani Camara scored 18 on 6-of-9 shooting, 4-of-7 from three, and was +32 in 23 minutes. Donovan Clingan added 11 points and 7 rebounds, and hit two threes.
The bench kept it going
Scoot Henderson led the reserves with 15 points. Robert Williams III had 10 rebounds in 15 minutes. Jrue Holiday scored 8 and was +32. Yang Hansen added 5. As a team, Portland had 32 assists, hit 19 threes and outrebounded Phoenix 56-39.
Booker, mostly alone
Devin Booker scored 23 for Phoenix on 7-of-13 shooting and 9-of-9 at the line, but he finished -43. The Suns shot 30-of-84 (35.7%) and 6-of-31 from three. Collin Gillespie went 0-for-8.
The Ighodaro injury
Confirmed Oso Ighodaro left in the second quarter with a right hip injury and didn't return. He finished with 8 points in 15 minutes. Luke Kennard was out for Phoenix.
Box score
Trail Blazers · 124
| Player | MIN | FG-FGA | 3P-3PA | FT-FTA | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toumani Camara * | 23 | 6-9 | 4-7 | 2-2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| Deni Avdija * | 23 | 7-16 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| Donovan Clingan * | 21 | 4-9 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Damian Lillard * | 24 | 7-12 | 6-10 | 5-5 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Ja Morant * | 23 | 6-8 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Robert Williams III | 15 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Micah Potter | 12 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Yang Hansen | 12 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Jrue Holiday | 21 | 2-6 | 0-3 | 4-4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Vit Krejci | 15 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Scoot Henderson | 19 | 7-14 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 15 |
| Jayson Kent | 7 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sidy Cissoko | 25 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| TEAM | 240 | 45-94 | 19-47 | 15-18 | 56 | 32 | 12 | 1 | 17 | 18 | 124 |
Suns · 83
| Player | MIN | FG-FGA | 3P-3PA | FT-FTA | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dillon Brooks * | 27 | 4-11 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Miles Bridges * | 29 | 3-11 | 0-5 | 2-2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Khaman Maluach * | 17 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Devin Booker * | 29 | 7-13 | 0-0 | 9-9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 23 |
| Jalen Green * | 25 | 4-12 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Oso Ighodaro | 15 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Ryan Dunn | 14 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 3-4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Koa Peat | 7 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Rasheer Fleming | 12 | 0-5 | 0-3 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Duop Reath | 9 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Jordan Goodwin | 22 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Collin Gillespie | 21 | 0-8 | 0-8 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Jamaree Bouyea | 7 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Pat Spencer | 7 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| TEAM | 240 | 30-84 | 6-31 | 17-23 | 39 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 15 | 17 | 83 |
* starter · Source: ESPN box score (event 401909841)
Next up is Friday at Sacramento, 7 p.m. PT. Rip City, keep it loud.
Sources: ESPN box score and game recap (event 401909841); official NBA injury report; Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic; Amanda Pflugrad; Reuters; The Oregonian; Marc J. Spears, Andscape.