Phoenix coach Jordan Ott is confident regarding the host Suns’ mindset entering their play-in tournament game against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
“We’ll be juiced and ready to rock,” Ott said as the Suns look to return to the postseason after missing out last year.
Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter’s advice to his players comes from his seven seasons of NBA experience as a player, including five in the postseason.
Portland has not made the playoffs since 2021, and it has not won a playoff series since 2019, when it fell to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.
“Play free,” said Splitter, who won an NBA title with San Antonio in 2014.
“You know, you can play that game super tense. It’s a balance between playing hard and playing free a little bit. You cannot be in fear. You just have to play hard and enjoy that.”
The seventh-seeded Suns and eighth-seeded Trail Blazers begin the two-for-one round of the NBA extra season Tuesday.
The winner advances to the eight-team playoffs, with Game 1 set for Sunday at the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
The loser has another chance — it will host a second play-in game Friday against the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors contest Wednesday.
Phoenix won two of three in the season series, winning twice in Portland but losing at home in the most recent meeting Feb. 22, a 92-77 win for the Blazers with both teams missing key pieces.
Suns leading scorers Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks did not play, while Blazers leading scorer Deni Avdija left 59 seconds in after suffering a recurrence of a back injury.
Ott held out Booker, Brooks and his other starters in the regular-season finale, a 135-103 win at Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Booker and Brooks were rested, but questions surround the availability of Jalen Green (knee) and Jordan Goodwin (ankle), who left the Wednesday victory over Dallas with injuries.
“Whoever’s available, we’ll make it work,” Ott said. “We know we are a competitive group. We have more than enough to go out there and play and play as hard as we possibly can.”
Avdija had 25 points and 10 assists in the Blazers’ 122-120 victory over Sacramento that clinched the eighth seed Sunday, and 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan had his fourth straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Clingan had 23 points and 13 rebounds in the Feb. 22 game.
The Blazers have won five of seven and seven of 10. The Suns have won six of the last 16, many of those without Brooks (fractured hand).
“They’ve been playing well lately,” Ott said of Portland. “It’s a really good defense. They’re in a different coverage, where they just funnel everything to the big (Clingan).
“They are super active, long on the wings, play super physical. Offensively they play fast in transition and they drive the basketball. It’ll be a challenge, the same challenge that we’ve seen with them before.”
Splitter took over when Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was placed on administrative leave after being arrested in October in a federal illegal gambling investigation.
“Stuff happens,” Splitter said. “I think we went through everything you can imagine. Of course it is going to be a tough game. Jordan Ott is a great coach. A lot of pressure. You just have to enjoy that, knowing it is going to be part of their lives now, playing these important games.”
