Trail Blazers Do It the Tough Way, but Hold On for a 3-1 Series Lead : NBA playoffs: Portland wastes a 14-point advantage in the fourth quarter before beating Utah, 104-101.

Proving that they can make anything this side of the national debt disappear, the Portland Trail Blazers, quickly becoming the former clear-cut favorites for the NBA title, played “Can you top this?” Sunday night and almost bottomed out.

Three days after wasting a 23-point, fourth-quarter lead before coming back to win, the Trail Blazers didn’t have to go that far to hit ground zero at the Salt Palace, settling this time for a 14-point erosion in the final period. Unlike Thursday, they even lost the lead.

But, as it turned out, not the series lead. The Trail Blazers escaped with a 104-101 victory and the chance to rid themselves of the Jazz once and for all Tuesday night in Game 5 at Portland.

Utah went down firing with a 33-point fourth quarter. But John Stockton’s three-pointer was wide to the left and Karl Malone’s three-pointer hit the heel of the rim before time ran out on the Jazz.

“It seemed long,” Portland’s Clyde Drexler said of the game’s closing moments.

“It seemed like they had 20 shots at the basket.”

Do the Trail Blazers, owners of a 17-point lead in the second quarter, have some explaining to do?

They choose to dwell only on the facts. That is, a 3-1 Western Conference semifinal series lead.

“Would you rather take a big lead and lose, or take a big lead and win?” Terry Porter said. “There’s no reason for editorial comment after that.”

Added Trail Blazer Coach Rick Adelman: “It’s just an unbelievable way for us. I can’t say enough about both teams. That’s a classic game. Down the stretch, neither team would die. Neither team would break. We just got a break.”

Utah’s charge started the first play of the fourth quarter, Blue Edwards’ jumper from the right side igniting a 17-2 run. One Portland offensive stretch in that collapse: Porter’s shot is blocked by Mark Eaton; Kevin Duckworth’s shot misses; Danny Ainge scores the Trail Blazers’ only points on a leaner along the left baseline; Duckworth falls out of bounds after grabbing a rebound; Duckworth misses a hook along the right baseline; Drexler misses two free throws; Buck Williams is called for an offensive foul on a screen, and Drexler barely hits the front of the rim on a three-point attempt.

The next time down court, Jeff Malone came around a screen by Mike Brown, got the ball, pulled up and made a 12-footer to put the Jazz ahead, 85-84, with 6:57 remaining. That was the first of 18 lead changes.

After Utah took an 89-88 lead with 4:07 left, the Jazz scored on seven consecutive possessions, the Trail Blazers on six. A point still separated them.

Utah’s last stand came at 101-100 with 43 seconds to play on the last of Karl Malone’s game-high 31 points, a turn-around jumper from the high post. Portland followed that with a timeout and the plan to get a quick shot, putting the Blazers in position to get another possession before time expired. The result was Drexler’s 16-footer from the left side.

“I really wasn’t concentrating on shooting before that,” said Drexler, who had 15 attempts from the field and finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. “I had the turf toe coming in. I had passed up many shots. I just couldn’t pass up that one.”

The basket came with 36 seconds to go, Adelman’s plan having been executed perfectly. What he didn’t draw up helped even more. The Jazz’s attempt to regain the lead ended when Karl Malone, standing on the left side and looking to get the ball inside to Thurl Bailey, threw it instead to Drexler. The Trail Blazers turned that into Porter’s two free throws and the 104-101 lead.

“It was easy,” Malone said of Drexler’s play. “Hell, I just threw it to him.”

Left with the final try, Stockton and Karl Malone missed the three-point attempts. The Jazz had scored on 16 of their 20 previous possessions in the fourth quarter, but went scoreless on their final two, the last coming when Coach Jerry Sloan decided against using a timeout and went for the victory after Porter’s free throws. Adelman decided against fouling a Utah player and sending him to the line in favor of risking the outcome of the three-point attempts.

Playing back-to-back games was supposed to favor the Trail Blazers, 18-3 on the second night of such scheduling situations coming in, because of their deep bench. But their taking control early and making the Jazz play catch-up from a sizable deficit for the second time in the series had nothing to do with Ainge or Walter Davis or any other Portland reserve.

It was, simply, an inside job.

The Trail Blazers shot 54.3% during the first half largely because so many of their baskets came in the lane. Drexler had three offensive rebounds, one less than the entire Utah team, by halftime and eight overall. In the biggest run to that point, 18-6 by Portland in the second quarter for a 46-32 lead, five of the seven field goals came on layups or other shots close to the basket.

“You can’t play them this way,” Sloan said. “We let them run, go to the basket, do whatever they wanted to. They got an open court on us.”

The first-half advantage got as big as 17, 56-39, with 1:27 left in the second quarter. It was 57-44 at the break, Utah having been held to two 22-point quarters.