Frank Kaminsky #8 of the Phoenix Suns high fives Jae Crowder #99 during the NBA game at Footprint Center on November 02, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Pelicans 112-100. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP
Frank Kaminsky scored a career-high 31 points off the bench to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 119-109 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
Chris Paul added 21 points and seven assists, JaVale McGee contributed 14 points and eight rebounds and Devin Booker had 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists as Phoenix won its sixth straight game. Kaminsky made 12 of 18 field-goal attempts and collected seven boards while being the difference-maker in the contest.
Damian Lillard scored a season-high 28 points and also had seven rebounds and seven assists but couldn’t prevent Portland from dropping to 0-6 on the road.
Norman Powell added 23 points, CJ McCollum had 18 points and seven assists and Larry Nance Jr. scored 13 points for the Trail Blazers.
Jae Crowder had 12 points and Mikal Bridges scored 10 for the Suns, who shot 52.1 percent from the field, including 11 of 28 from 3-point range.
Portland made 48.4 percent of its shots and was 7 of 30 from behind the arc while dropping its second straight contest.
The man of the hour. pic.twitter.com/3bLIFqLJzF
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 11, 2021
Lillard made back-to-back baskets to bring the Trail Blazers within 108-101 with 2:48 remaining but Bridges and Paul hit consecutive 3-pointers to make it a 13-point margin with 1:50 left.
Booker connected on a 3-pointer to make it 119-104 with 57.3 seconds left as the Suns closed it out.
Phoenix led by 14 early in the third quarter after a three-point play by McGee but the Trail Blazers recovered to trail 71-66 on Lillard’s jumper with 4:53 remaining.
Bridges converted a three-point play with 1:05 left to push the Suns’ lead to 12 before Phoenix took an 87-77 edge into the final stanza.
McCollum buried a 3-pointer to cap a 9-2 run as Portland pulled within 93-89 with 7:47 left.
The Suns answered with a 10-3 push. Kaminsky scored in the interior to surpass his previous career best of 27 and Crowder followed with a 3-pointer to make it 103-92 with 5:29 remaining.
Kaminsky had 18 points and five rebounds in the first half to help Phoenix lead 60-47 at the break.
Jusuf Nurkic scored a basket to pull Portland within 40-39 with 6:01 left before Kaminsky scored 14 of Phoenix’s final 20 points of the quarter.
Portland missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts in the first half.