On Tuesday, April 14, we’ll see the Phoenix Suns host the Portland Trail Blazers in a 7 vs. 8 matchup in the 2025-26 NBA Play-In Tournament. The winner of this game will head to San Antonio to take on the Spurs, the second-seeded team in the Western Conference, in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs.

Keep reading for Suns vs. Blazers odds and predictions, and make sure you come back to VSiN throughout the course of the NBA Playoffs. We’ll have previews of every single series and daily best bets/player props. We’ll also have betting trends and insights from our analytics guru Steve Makinen. Of course, we’ll also be talking about all of this on our live programming too! It’s a great time to be a VSiN subscriber, so make sure you check out our subscription options.

How To Watch Suns vs. Blazers

Where: Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona

When: 10:00 pm ET on Tuesday, April 14

Channel: Prime Video

Suns vs. Blazers Odds

(Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook and accurate as of Monday, April 13 at 5:30 pm ET)

Moneyline: Suns -166, Blazers +140

Spread: Suns -4.5 (-105), Hornets +4.5 (-115)

Total: Over 217.5 (-110), Under 217.5 (-110)

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Suns vs. Blazers Prediction

For a good chunk of the regular season, the Suns looked like they’d have a real shot at avoiding the Play-In Tournament. However, Phoenix struggled to stay healthy throughout the year, and the team then had issues developing chemistry once everyone returned. Meanwhile, Portland finished the year playing some strong basketball, going 15-11 after the All-Star break and edging out in front of Los Angeles to claim the eighth spot. We’re now set up for an interesting showdown in the desert. And it’s one that I think will be pretty ugly, which is why the first play I made of the entire Play-In Tournament was the Under at 218.5.

On the season, the Suns are ninth in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions (114.0), according to Cleaning The Glass. They’re also ninth in halfcourt points allowed per 100 possessions (114.0), which is significant considering Phoenix plays at a slow pace and usually gets opponents to try and grind out wins. The Blazers are also a defensive-minded team, and they really turned things up on that end of the floor in the second half of the season. In fact, after the All-Star break, they were third in the NBA in raw defensive rating (109.3).

These are just two very good defensive teams, and these groups also struggle a bit offensively. The Suns do have Devin Booker and Jalen Green, who have had their moments as a duo this year. Yet Phoenix’s halfcourt offense got worse and worse as the season progressed, and the Suns ended up being 16th in the NBA in points per 100 possessions (115.5) in that setting. Meanwhile, the Blazers finished 20th in halfcourt points per 100 (114.2) possessions.

It’s also worth noting that both of these teams defend the three-point line at a high level. Phoenix gave up only 12.2 threes per game during the regular season, which was the fourth-best mark in the NBA. However, Portland wasn’t too far behind there, giving up only 12.5 triples per game (tied for sixth in NBA). That’s significant because these are two teams that like to shoot the three-ball on offense, as they each rank in the NBA’s top 10 in triples made per game. Well, if they can take away those shots from one another, that’s another reason this game could turn into a defensive slugfest.

This is also a playoff game. It might be called a Play-In Tournament game, but this is officially the postseason. And teams that play ugly games in the regular season only tend to play uglier ones in the postseason. Well, the Under was 17-24 in Portland road games this year, while it was 15-26 in Phoenix home games. That’s a lot of lower-scoring games.

If the Under isn’t your cup of tea, I’d suggest backing the Suns on the moneyline — and possibly parlaying it with the Hornets to beat the Heat in the first game. I can see in looking at our VSiN NBA betting splits that there’s some sharp money on Portland, and perhaps the team will cover. However, I do like Phoenix to win this game at home.

The Blazers might be a tough defensive team, but the Suns will have the best shot maker on the floor in Booker. I know that maybe undersells what Deni Avdija can do, but Dillon Brooks is going to handle that assignment. That should get to Avdija a bit. Plus, I don’t see Avdija having the same whistle in the postseason that he had in the regular season. Also, the Suns are 15-2 straight-up as favorites of 3.5 to 9.5 this season. They have been reliable in favorable spots under Jordan Ott, who should have the team ready to go here. Meanwhile, the Blazers are 6-17 SU as road underdogs under Tiago Splitter.

Best Bet: Under 218.5 (-110)

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