Portland Trail Blazers beat Phoenix Suns 124-83 at home on Wednesday, October 21. The final margin was 41 points.
When it got away
The Trail Blazers broke it open in the first quarter, winning that quarter 43-12. Their lead was 31 at that break, and it stayed in double digits at every break after.
Why it was lopsided
The Trail Blazers shot 58% on an effective basis to 39.3% for the Suns and the Trail Blazers recovered 38.1% of their own misses against 24.5% for the Suns. Shot quality is the biggest of the four factors, and it was the clearest gap.
The Suns did win one battle, the free-throw line: FT rate of 20.2 against 16. The Trail Blazers made up for it elsewhere.
The game played at about 100 possessions per team. The Trail Blazers scored 124.6 points per 100 possessions and the Suns scored 83.4, a difference of 41.2.
The Trail Blazers' reserves also made a difference, outscoring the opposing bench 46-32.
Who stood out
Damian Lillard (POR) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (24.9): 25 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast on 7-12 shooting. The team was +23 in the minutes Damian played.
For the Suns, Devin Booker was the best of the rest at 19: 23 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast on 7-13 shooting.
Deni Avdija (18 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast) recorded a double-double.
Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.
What it means
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 63% for the Trail Blazers.
Across the last 8 meetings in our records, the series is even.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.