5 takeaways from Portland Trail Blazers stunning Phoenix Suns once again this season

The Portland Trail Blazers had the all answers Friday night with the final one hushing a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.

Jerami Grant’s jumper at the buzzer over Deandre Ayton after catching the inbounds pass from Justise Winslow that Bismack Biyombo defended with a second remaining lifted Portland to an 108-106 win over Phoenix Suns.

The play was reviewed and quickly confirmed in favor of the Blazers, who have handed Phoenix its only two losses this season. They prevailed Friday without their starting backcourt of Damian Lillard (calf) and Anfernee Simons (foot), who hit the game winner in the overtime victory over Phoenix last month.

Grant finished with a game-high 30 points as seven Blazers (6-2) reached double figures.

Devin Booker paced the Suns (6-2) with 25 points on 21 field goal attempts while Ayton scored 24 after missing two games with a left ankle sprain.

Damion Lee added 13 off the bench with 11 coming in the fourth quarter as he went 3-of-5 from 3 in the fourth.

NBA: SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | STATISTICS

The Suns lost Cam Johnson to a right knee injury suffered in the first quarter. Playing just five minutes and not scoring, Johnson left the arena on crutches.

Here are five takeaways from Friday’s game as the Suns play the Blazers again in the second of a back-to-back Saturday at Footprint Center.

Getting playoff ready

This is what the Suns have seen in the playoffs — and will continue to see.

The more Phoenix executes in these situations, the better it’ll be come postseason this season. The Suns can look at their final offensive possession and learn from it.

Booker was doubled, but he didn’t force a double. The defense just came out as he was dribbling the ball way outside the 3-point line.

Booker found Bridges who turned and looked to score, but he traveled.

Suns coach Monty Williams said one could argue Bridges was tripped on the play, noted he's been in that situation before, but making that decision in a tie game with seconds dwindling is different than making it in the second quarter up 10.

Lastly, Chris Paul was wide open for 3 on the wing. He only took four shots all game in scoring seven points.

If he gets a fifth FGA and hits it, ball game Suns most likely. If he misses, it’s overtime most likely.

Now if Bridges throws it out there and Paul misses, then it leaves the question of why didn’t Bridges shoot the ball.

If Bridges attempts the pass and it’s stolen, it’s, why did he pass the ball to Paul.

The more times Bridges is in that specific situation, the better he’ll be for it come playoff time.

Ayton: 'Longest second'

He felt good — and looked it in an 18-point first half.

Ayton even hit two 3s in the half to mark only the second time in his career he's made two from deep in a game. The first time came in the 2020 bubble against Washington.

Then Ayton didn’t attempt a shot in the third quarter, finished the game with five fouls and was on the wrong end of Grant’s game winner.

The bigger thing is he came out of the game saying his left ankle felt good, but the fouls and the turnovers (four) were a problem.

The fouls forced Williams to play offense-defense with Ayton and Biyombo.

Jusuf Nurkic had just 14 points and eight boards. So Ayton put up better numbers as far as scoring, but Nurkic had nine of those 14 in the fourth quarter that included a 3 that put Portland up one with 38.7 seconds left.

Nurkic had three offensive rebounds with the last one resulting in a putback to tie the game with 23.4 seconds. This was after Booker’s 3 put the Suns up two.

Portland once again closed better than Phoenix with that final shot coming on “the longest second I've ever guarded,” said Ayton.

Third quarter surge

Suns could’ve been closer, but then again, they were fortunate to be only down six going into the fourth.

Phoenix trailed by as many as 15 in the third before closing the quarter on a 19-10 run. Bridges scored 10 in the quarter and Phoenix had battled through getting upset over calls and missed shots.

Booker had just as many fouls as field goals in the third, but the Suns were down only four after Landry Shamet’s 4-point play with 5.8 seconds left in the quarter.

Justise Winslow got a basket at the buzzer to end the third to make the difference six. Then Drew Eubanks’ dunk put the Blazers up eight.

Those were two huge buckets to give Portland a slight cushion that it ultimately needed.

Needing Payne

Cameron Payne has not only re-established his role as the backup one, he was missed Friday night.

Williams said he didn’t want to put more on Booker’s plate as far as handling the ball. So he had Josh Okogie handle it with the second unit.

He’s a great athlete, but not the ideal guy to initiate offense. He turned the ball over less than a minute into the second quarter.

Payne’s importance goes beyond his speed, scoring ability and party starter when it comes to getting the crowd going.

He is a ball handler.

You can’t have enough of those. That’s why Williams is trying to have Bridges and Johnson handle it more — to help relieve that duty from Paul and Booker.

The difference with Payne is he can go anywhere on the floor with his handle, run the offense and play with pace and under control.

Bridges and Johnson do with drives in the halfcourt and in transition, but not on all levels like Payne.

Not good, not good at all

Johnson came into Friday’s game playing perhaps the best basketball of his NBA career.

Averaged 21.3 points in his previous three games, hit 12 total 3s in last two games and was coming off a season-high 29-point effort in Tuesday’s win over Minnesota.

Played solid defense on the bigger Karl-Anthony Towns. That was a question mark for Johnson coming into the season on how he’d fare against bigger fours, but he held his own against the T-Wolves All-Star.

Then he tweaked his right knee five minutes into Friday’s game, didn’t return and left the arena on crutches.

Not good. Not good at all.

In the short term, Johnson’s absence threw off the rotation. Torrey Craig made his usually check in, but then Dario Saric played some. Saric played Tuesday, but that was just his second game of the season.

See, this is where Jae Crowder’s name should be inserted.

Since the Suns haven’t traded him, they are down a four. They can play Jock Landale at the four and Biyombo at the five, but a situation like in which Johnson could be out an extended time begs for the Suns to do something with Crowder.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns' two losses have come against Portland Trail Blazers