NBA ROUNDUP : Blazers Take Sonics to Court, Win Series

The Portland Trail Blazers almost always take charge at home.

They were 36-5 at Memorial Coliseum as they posted the best record in the regular season to earn the home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

The home court was the difference in their best-of-five first-round playoff series against the Seattle SuperSonics. It was especially important because the deciding game was at Portland Saturday.

The Trail Blazers broke the game open in the second quarter and coasted to a 119-107 victory.

Cliff Robinson came off the bench to score 11 points in the second quarter and lead an 18-5 spurt that enabled the Trail Blazers to take a 63-43 halftime lead. By early in the fourth quarter, the lead was 107-74.

The Trail Blazers, outrebounded and outhustled in the two games at Seattle, came back strong to win the series.

“It would have been the biggest upset in NBA history,” Portland Coach Rick Adelman said. “We had our backs to the wall. We turned it up and good things came our way. We were full of intensity, which I expected after the last two games.”

The Trail Blazers will play the Utah Jazz in the best-of-seven second-round series, which begins Tuesday night at Portland.

Chicago 105, Philadelphia 92--Charles Barkley didn’t seem to be hampered by a heavy brace on his left knee, but his 76er teammates were shackled at Chicago.

With Michael Jordan scoring 29 points and getting considerable help from his teammates, the Bulls took control early and had an easy time in the first game of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Barkley, making 10 of 13 shots, had 34 points and 11 rebounds, although he sat out the last quarter.

He had only two assists, mainly because the other four starters were five for 26.

The Bulls took a 34-14 lead and never led by fewer than 10 points after that.