Perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers can beat Houston at 1-10 on Friday and finally end their road misery. Otherwise, depending on how they’ve played outside of the Moda Center so far this season, they could return home without a win on the road. The Blazers (5th) -7) fell 119-109 on Wednesday night in Phoenix to go 0-6 on the road. With Detroit (2-8) winning at the Rockets on Wednesday, the Blazers and Houston are now the only two teams in the NBA without a road win. And frustration is growing for the Blazers, who began this journey with four games, losing 117-109 Tuesday night at the LA Clippers. But Lillard insisted that progress be made, even if it seems like a slow process. With all the changes, hard nights like Wednesday were to be expected. “It will be different, there will be ups and downs, we have to find our way,” said Lillard. The Suns (7-3) led 98-92 with 6:21 remaining, then went on to shed light on the defenses of the Blazers who entered the game as the worst in the league on the road. Phoenix scored 21 points in the last six minutes and that proved too much for the Blazers. Lillard led the Blazers by 28 points and shot well, 12 of 23 out of the field. But he finished 1 out of 4 for three, which contributed to a miserable night from afar for most of the team. Portland went 0/13 on threes in the first half and finished the game 7/30. Phoenix, on the other hand, shot 52.7% off the field despite Devin Booker going 5/15 for 12 points. That didn’t matter because backup center Frank Kaminski, who entered the night averaging 9.4 points per game, scored 31 halves well in 12-of-18 shooting, said his team, who played hard but always still trying to get smarter too. “Just too many mistakes in thinking and defensive breakdowns and failures,” he said. “We gave each other a chance … And you want to see that. But at some point you know how difficult it is to win away in this league, if you don’t play a little better from the neck up, it will be difficult. “Role player comes off the bench and has a career high of 31 like Kaminski,” said Lillard . Paul finished with 21 points and seven assists for the Suns. WHAT IT MEANS The Blazers are two completely different teams depending on where they play. At home they are 5-1 with wins against the Suns, the Clippers and Memphis. On the streets, they struggled to stay in games most nights thanks to poor defense that didn’t travel well at all. GAME REVIEW The Blazers started the game solidly. They moved the ball well, shot off the field well (47.8%) and defended reasonably well. Still, the Suns were leading 27:26 after the first quarter and a bad trend had developed as the Blazers missed all seven of their threesomes. In the second quarter, that trend began to really hurt the Blazers. They missed all six of their threesomes while the Suns shot 54.5% out of the field. Phoenix went on a 12-6 run to win 46-39. To aid the Suns, they sometimes found inconsistencies with the 7-foot Kaminsky versus the Blazers’ guards. The Suns got 18 points from Kaminsky at halftime and his three gave the Suns a 53-43 lead at 2:52. The Blazers were 60-47 behind at halftime, while sitting at 0 of 13 on three at halftime, they won the third quarter 30:27 to stay within striking distance, then the fourth quarter started with a 12-6 run, to get the score 93:89 with 7:47 in the game. Portland had a chance but its defense failed to come through the track. NEXT UP The Blazers will travel to Houston for a game on Friday and then head to Denver to end that tour with four games on Sunday .– Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian / OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories
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