Trail Blazers, Jazz Square Off

There’s no time to rest for the best in the West.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz open the Western Conference finals this afternoon, barely a day and a half after they wrapped up their semifinal series.

“Whatever NBC and the NBA say, we do,” Portland’s Terry Porter said.

The television network needed a game on Saturday, and after Portland beat Phoenix 118-106 and Utah topped Seattle 111-100 Thursday night, the Blazers-Jazz contest was chosen.

Portland coach Rick Adelman doesn’t like it.

“I understand the reason. TV is the reason,” he said. “But it makes no sense to me. When you’re in the Western Conference finals, why would you only have 36 hours to to get ready for the first game and then you play two in six days? That’s just senseless to me. These guys work too hard to have to go through that.”

The Jazz probably has more reason to complain about than the Blazers. After all, Utah had to travel to Portland on Friday, then get ready to play again at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday.

“We’re going to the Western Conference finals and New York and Chicago are playing the seventh game of the semifinals,” Adelman said. “They get two days off and we don’t. You don’t like it, but you accept it.”

The Blazers-Suns series featured two high-scoring teams that like to push the ball upcourt as fast as possible. Utah, on the other hand, prefers a slower pace and a patient, half-court attack.

“They’ve got Karl Malone, Jeff Malone and John Stockton,” Adelman said, “and you’ve got to be able to guard those people.”

The Blazers also have to contend with 7-foot-4 Mark Eaton in the middle.

“The biggest thing for us against them is how well we move the ball,” Adelman said. “They’ve got big guys and Eaton just standing around under the basket. If we don’t move the ball, if we’re impatient offensively, they can really affect us. If we move the ball, we can be effective against them.”

Utah, appearing in the conference finals for the first time, beat Seattle 4-1 in the semifinals. Portland eliminated Phoenix in five games, too.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan knows what to expect from the Blazers, who split their season series with Utah 2-2. Each team won twice on its home court. The Blazers defeated Utah 4-1 in last year’s conference semifinals and are in the conference finals for the third year in a row.

“They tend to force the action on us,” Sloan said. “We just need to try to contain them”

Both teams are brimming with confidence.

“The more you win, the more confidence you get,” Karl Malone said. “And we’re getting tougher and tougher.”