NBA PLAYOFFS WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS : Jazz Adds Salt to Blazer Wounds, 107-101

The dings in the Portland Trail Blazer armor were already visible before this week, courtesy the Seattle SuperSonics’ two opening-round victories, but the Utah Jazz, coming home down 2-0 in these Western Conference semifinals and apparently not feeling too bad about it, have hammered a few dents.

The moral victory came on the road Thursday, when the Jazz came from 23 points down in the fourth quarter to tie it before falling.

The real victory, the one that cut into Portland’s series lead, came Saturday at the Salt Palace, 107-101.

The Trail Blazers, the league’s second-best rebounding team during the regular season, have been beaten on the boards two games in a row by the team that finished 21st.

In Game 2 it was 43-28, including 13-3 in the fourth quarter, when the Jazz scored 45 points.

Saturday Utah won the rebound battle, 56-46, with Karl Malone getting 21 and Mike Brown 12 off the bench, as testimony to their need to become more aggressive.

A compliment for the Jazz, or blame for the Trail Blazers?

Point: “We outrebounded them in Game 2, but we dug ourselves too much of a hole,” Brown said. “Today, we realized we had to push them around a little bit.”

Counterpoint: “I don’t think teams beat us on the boards when we play hard,” Portland’s Danny Ainge said. “At least not by the big numbers that they did.”

Rebuttal: “We put bodies on them,” Brown said. “Their guys were getting mad.”

Frustrated, even.

“A little bit,” Brown said.

The down-and-dirty approach, which helped limit the Trail Blazers to 37.8% shooting and a couple droughts, also extended to offense. Most important was Malone again making the low post his personal campground after two games of drifting outside and also being pushed by strong-arm defender Buck Williams.

Malone’s 12-of-29 shooting hardly overwhelmed. But 20 of his game-high 30 points came in the second half, 12 in the fourth quarter. Of his four field goals, one was a tip-in, one a slam dunk and another a layup.

“I was getting down there,” he said of positioning deep in the heart of the Trail Blazer protection. “The whole season, I had pretty much taken what the defense gave me--going outside or whatever it takes. I haven’t been shooting well this series, but I’m not going to change what worked for me all season.”

Malone is shooting 42.3% (30 of 71) in the three games. But he also has 53 rebounds, an average of 17.7.

The Jazz, which has won 18 of 20 against the Trail Blazers at the Salt Palace dating to 1982-83 and can extend the streak in Game 4 this evening, made its first move in the second quarter. A four-point lead, 37-33, turned into 14 thanks to a 10-0 run as the Trail Blazers went scoreless for 6:14.

The Trail Blazers, led by Terry Porter’s 28 points, still had life late in the game. They were within seven, 102-95, with 51 seconds left, hardly an insurmountable lead for a team with two of the best three-point shooters, Ainge and Porter.

The opportunity to cut it to five, however, turned out to be their last chance, when Drexler missed a layup, teammate Jerome Kersey was called for a loose-ball foul, then was slapped with a technical for arguing the call. As part of Utah’s run of 11 consecutive free throws without a miss, Jeff Malone made two from the original call and the extra from the technical.

That made it 105-95 with 36 seconds remaining. The Trail Blazers, knocked around much of the previous 47 minutes, even longer counting the fourth-quarter finish to Game 2, were finally knocked out.