NBA PLAYOFFS : Porter, Drexler Turn Down Jazz : West: They combine for 77 points as Trail Blazers take 2-0 lead, 119-102.

At the suggestion of teammate Danny Ainge, a veteran of the bumps and bruises of NBA life, Terry Porter has taken to ice Jacuzzis of late, dumping cubes in before entering the tub as the new cure for whatever ails him.

Porter has been pleased with the results. Ice has done anything but cool him off.

Porter, usually second on the ticket in the Portland backcourt to Clyde Drexler, continued his red-hot playoff run Tuesday night, making 12 of 14 shots and scoring 41 points to lead the Trail Blazers past the Utah Jazz, 119-102, at Memorial Coliseum for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.

“I’ve never seen him better than that,” Ainge said. “He’s been playing at an incredible level the last couple months, but not only hitting the open shots. He hit shots when he was guarded. He even hit his free throws.”

It was as if everything were a layup. Porter was four for five on three-point shots, doing the most damage by going three of four in the first half, and 13 for 14 from the line. He added seven assists and six rebounds to outshine Drexler’s 36 points, 12 assists and six rebounds.

Porter has scored 30 points in three of the last seven games.

Those he fell short on were only 27, 20, 20 and 26, the last a game high in only 28 minutes of Game 1.

He hasn’t been below 20 points since getting 15 in the final outing of the first-round series against the Lakers.

He is 10 for 13 on three-pointers in the first two games against Utah and 26 of 45 (54.3%) in the 11 playoff games. The Trail Blazers combined to it eight of 15 Tuesday.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team shoot the ball as well in this kind of situation,” Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said.

Said Porter: “It did look easy, I guess. But, believe me, it wasn’t easy. I was just in an unbelievable zone.”

Someone asked if John Stockton, his primary defender, was getting frustrated as the night went on, seeing his attempted shadowing turn into another basket. Porter said he didn’t think so, then paused.

“Some of the shots I hit today could be kind of frustrating,” he said. “He did a great job. What more could a defender do than make me put the ball on the floor and not get open jumpers? I’m just dropping them in.”

Porter, who averaged 23.1 points the final month of the regular season, served notice early, though the Jazz made it through he first quarter in one piece, a significant improvement over Saturday afternoon’s Game 1.

Portland made sure the opener closed early by making 16 of its first 21 shots (76.2%) to take a 37-19 lead en route to a 113-88 runaway victory.

This time, the Trail Blazers, who won at home for 14th time in the last 15 playoff games, were 13 for 25 (52%). But that wasn’t good enough to give the Jazz the quick shake, only for a 29-27 lead as Utah shot 52.4%.

The other encouraging sign for the Jazz was Karl Malone rejoining the offense after taking only six shots in 29 minutes of Game 1 and going to the line eight times. He had six field-goal attempts the first quarter of Game 2 and eight by halftime, along with six trips to the line. Those still weren’t the overwhelming numbers Utah needs from their All-Star forward to stay close in the series, but it was a start as he finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, both team highs.

The teams stayed hot in the second quarter, but the Trail Blazers went 13 for 15 from the line, scored on 11 of their final 13 possessions before halftime and moved to a 64-51 lead at intermission.

It continued in the third quarter. Rather, Porter did: jumper from the left side with 7:40 left after Utah closed to within 72-62, then, after a Jazz free throw, another from the left side with 7:05 remaining to pad the lead to 76-63. Three possessions later, he got tight coverage from Stockton on the right perimeter, started to drive, pulled up and made a 15-footer and converted the free throw after being fouled.

Drexler made another three-pointer to make it 83-70, giving him three in a row after coming in only eight of 37 the previous 10 playoff games. He had 28 points the first three quarters, including 12 in the period, Porter had 30 on 10-of-12 shooting, and the Trail Blazers had a 94-84 advantage.

“They’re pulling up and taking shots from long range--the kind of shots you want to give them--and they’re hitting them,” Utah’s Jeff Malone said. “It’s really frustrating and demoralizing to work hard to get back into the game, get within eight points, and then have Clyde Drexler or Terry Porter come down and drain a three.”