Portland Is Tough to Stop : NBA playoffs: But that’s what Jazz must do at home to avoid falling behind, 3-0.

If hot-shooting Portland guards Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler aren’t stopped in Game 3 Friday night, Utah’s first adventure into the third round of the NBA playoffs may end quickly.

“(The Trail Blazers) are shooting the ball well and they’re a very talented team,” Coach Jerry Sloan said Thursday. “When you’re on a roll like that, the confidence level is hard to shut off.”

Porter had 41 points on 12 of 14 shooting and Drexler scored 36 in leading a 119-102 victory Tuesday, giving Portland a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Sloan was counting on a combination of Porter and Drexler cooling off and playing at the Delta Center, where Utah is an NBA-best 43-4, to reverse the Jazz fortunes.

“I just hope we can get ourselves back on track and win a game at home,” he said. “You just play as well as you can and see what happens.”

Forward Karl Malone said: “This is gut-check time for us, but during the whole course of the year we’ve had adversity and we’ve responded well.”

Porter’s shooting accuracy is surprising given his defender, John Stockton, was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive second team.

“John did a great job,” Porter said. “I just made some tough shots. I made four or five with him right in my face. When a guy’s in a zone like that, you’ve just got to live with it.”

“We’ve seen some impressive shooting,” Stockton said. “Porter and Drexler both have shot the long ones like they were layups.”

If Portland’s guard duo is to cool off, Stockton said the Jazz can’t count on luck. Tough defense, he believes, eventually will tell.

“Hopefully that will happen and we’ll be the ones to cause it,” he said. “We’ve got two home games (including Game 4 Sunday) and if we win them, it’s a three-game series.”

But even if Portland’s sizzling perimeter shooting continues, there is still hope, Stockton said.

“You have to stop the five players as a unit,” he said. “If Terry gets 60 and we win, we’ve done our job.”

Sloan said that as sensational as Portland’s outside shooting has been -- Porter and Drexler hit a combined 7 of 11 3-pointers in Game 2 -- Utah might close the gap with better defense in other areas, too.

“We’ve got to try to stop their easy baskets they’ve been getting off the break (17-7 for Portland Tuesday),” Sloan said. “The big thing is they hurt you when they’re not shooting well -- they take the ball to the basket and break you down that way.”

Malone said it’s time for the Jazz to start countering the Trail Blazers’ bombs with their traditionally strong inside game.

“It’s not a matter of me going out and taking control,” said Malone, who led Utah with 25 points Tuesday after a miserable 11-point showing in Game 1. “It’s more a thing of me being more aggressive.

“I have to start doing the things I did all year.”