Trail Blazers advance

Portland beat Phoenix 114-110 on Tuesday night to grab the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed and end a four-year playoff drought. (nba.com) Deni Avdija scored 41 points, and his three-point play with 16.1 seconds left finished Portland’s comeback from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit in Phoenix. (gmanetwork.com) The result moved the Trail Blazers out of the play-in and into a first-round series against the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs. The National Basketball Association’s playoff bracket lists Portland as the West’s No. 7 seed and San Antonio’s opponent. (nba.com) The play-in is the National Basketball Association’s four-team race for the last two playoff spots in each conference. Teams that finish seventh through 10th play for the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds before the first round starts. (cbssports.com) Portland entered Tuesday as the No. 8 team in the West, which gave it two chances to win one game and reach the bracket. By beating the No. 7 Suns in the 7-versus-8 game, the Trail Blazers claimed the No. 7 seed immediately. (nba.com) (cbssports.com) That changed the rest of the Western play-in board. Phoenix dropped into a final elimination game for the No. 8 seed, while San Antonio’s first-round matchup became official as soon as Portland closed out the Suns. (espn.com) The National Basketball Association says the 2026 play-in runs from April 14 through April 17, and the first round opens April 18. Yahoo Sports reported San Antonio and Portland are scheduled to begin their series on Sunday. (nba.com) (sports.yahoo.com) For Portland, the win sent the franchise back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. The comeback also kept a 42-40 regular season alive against a Spurs team that finished 62-20. (oregonlive.com) (nba.com) Now the Trail Blazers move from a one-game chase in Phoenix to a best-of-seven series in San Antonio, with their playoff place finally secured. (sports.yahoo.com)