The Portland Trail Blazers travel to Arizona to face the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Monday.

The Trail Blazers (10-16) come into this matchup losing four of their last six games which actually snapped a season-best three-game winning streak. It appeared as though Carmelo Anthony came in and did the trick with that small winning streak but the recent losses have them back to square one. We're talking about a club who's finished third in the Western Conference in each of the last two years and it would take an absolute miracle to get back to that point this season. In fact, it appears that a playoff berth is a longshot with the recent form of this team. What's bizarre about the Blazers is the fact that they rank 29th in assists, with their two-best players both being in the backcourt. That is not a recipe for success and it pairs atrociously with their 21st-ranked defense.

The Suns (11-14) got off to a great start this season but regression has hit then like a boulder. In fact, they come into this matchup losing 10 of their last 14 games, dropping them from a playoff contender into the same old Suns team. Having Devin Booker suffer an injury in Sunday's loss only adds to the troubles and it's hard to imagine them getting out of this slump if he's to miss any significant amount of time. One piece of good news is the fact that DeAndre Ayton's suspension is up this week and they'll be ecstatic to get their top-pic back in the fold. He'll move Aron Baynes, Dario Saric and Frank Kaminsky into more complementary roles and that is probably a better recipe for this team, despite their strong play over recent weeks.

Portland has owned Phoenix over recent years, winning their last 10 games over them in total.