Portland’s Avdija explodes

Deni Avdija sent Portland into the National Basketball Association playoffs on Tuesday night, scoring 41 points in a 114-110 play-in win over Phoenix. (nba.com) Avdija added 12 assists and seven rebounds, and his three-point play with 16.1 seconds left put Portland ahead for good in Phoenix. (espn.com) The Trail Blazers erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit, then closed out the Suns to lock up the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed on April 14. (espn.com) The play-in tournament is the National Basketball Association’s four-team race for the last two playoff spots in each conference. In the 7-versus-8 game, the winner goes straight to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. (nba.com) That format turned Tuesday into an elimination game for seeding, not survival, and Portland used it to end a playoff drought that dated to 2021. (opb.org) Portland’s reward is a first-round series against the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs, with the National Basketball Association’s first round set to begin on April 18. (espn.com) (nba.com) For Avdija, the night capped a season that already changed his standing in the league. Portland announced on February 1 that he had been selected to his first All-Star Game. (nba.com) The 41 points were reported as a career high in his postseason debut, giving Portland its biggest individual performance of the season at the moment it needed one most. (opb.org) (newsday.com) Now the comeback in Phoenix becomes Portland’s bridge into a full playoff series, with Avdija moving from play-in scorer to San Antonio’s first-round problem. (espn.com)