Trail Blazers secure play-in spot, eliminate undefeated Suns

The Portland Trail Blazers secured their play-in spot with Thursday’s win.

The Portland Trail Blazers had a simple task entering their final seeding game on Thursday night: Win or go home.

After the Memphis Grizzlies secured a play-in spot with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the day, followed quickly by the Phoenix Suns improving to a perfect 8-0 to keep the pressure on, Portland had to win to guarantee itself that second play-in spot out West. A loss, however, would’ve bumped Memphis up to No. 8 and given Phoenix its shot at the postseason as No. 9 team.

Thankfully for Rip City, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were up to the task, leading the Blazers to a crucial 134-133 win over the surprisingly resilient Brooklyn Nets. Caris LeVert, who had 37 points on the night, had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but missed his step-back jumper.

The Blazers have secured a spot in the play-in game(s)

With this victory, Portland improved to 6-2 in the bubble, dropping Brooklyn — a team that really had nothing to play for other than chemistry as the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference — to 5-3 in Orlando.

Now, the Blazers enter the play-in scenario in eighth place, which means they only have to beat the Grizzlies once in order to qualify for the postseason as the designated 8-seed. Memphis will have to beat Portland twice in order to knock the Blazers out and secure that coveted final playoff spot out West.

That’s a tall order considering how red-hot Lillard has been throughout these seeding games. Thanks to Thursday night’s win and his 42 points and 12 assists, he’s the favorite to win the NBA’s Player of the Seeding Games award, though Devin Booker might have had a stronger case if the Blazers had fallen short.

While it was a valiant effort from Booker and his undefeated Suns, Lillard and the Blazers would not be denied. Now we’ll see if they can finish the job against the Grizzlies in order to take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.