Gillespie’s Explosive 30 Points Ignite Suns’ Nail-Biting Victory Over Trail Blazers

You wouldn’t expect the Phoenix Suns, missing their dynamo Devin Booker to boot, to pull off a gritty 130-125 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers — yet, here we are. Collin Gillespie exploded with a career-high 30 points, raining down eight threes and dishing out 10 assists, while Mark Williams dominated the glass with 24 points and a dozen rebounds. Portland, still haunted by a six-game skid and without their All-Star Deni Avdija, fought hard but ultimately coughed up the lead after a promising start. The Suns, overcoming foul starts and key absences, flipped the script with a potent third quarter that changed everything. Intrigued? LEARN MORE

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Collin Gillespie scored a career-high 30 points, Mark Williams had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and the Phoenix Suns bounced back from a slow start for a 130-125 win over the reeling Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.

Grayson Allen also scored 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting and Jordan Goodwin had 16 points and 10 rebounds on a night when the Suns played without leading scorer Devin Booker (25.4 points per game), who was out with a right ankle sprain. Jalen Green was also out of the Suns’ lineup.

Gillespie tied a career high with eight made 3-pointers and also had 10 assists.

Jerami Grant had 23 points to lead Portland, which lost its sixth straight game. Donovan Clingan had 14 points and 15 rebounds. Shaedon Sharpe added 19 points for Portland.

The Trail Blazers also played without their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, Deni Avdija (25.5 points per game), who has a lower back strain and was just named to his first All-Star game.

Vit Krejci had five points in his Portland debut after being acquired in a trade with Atlanta.

Portland jumped to a 41-30 lead after one quarter but Phoenix pulled within 72-67 at halftime. The Suns took control by outscoring the Blazers 34-22 in the third quarter.

Williams’ layup with 3:55 left in the third quarter put the Suns ahead for good at 88-87.

The Trail Blazers turned the ball over 17 times, six more times than the Suns.

Up next

Suns: Return home to play Golden State on Thursday night.

Trail Blazers: Host Memphis on Friday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.