Jazz Surges Past the Trail Blazers : West: Malone scores 39 points as Utah overcomes 10-point deficit to gain first victory in the series. Game 4 will be played Sunday.

Remember the Utah Jazz? Midwest Divison champions. A couple of Olympians on the roster. The league’s best home record.

Remember Karl Malone? Best power forward in the game. Dominating inside. Shot 212 more free throws during the regular season than No. 2.

With Malone getting 39 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, the Jazz returned to the Delta Center after two decisive losses at Portland and beat the Trail Blazers, 97-89, Friday night. Game 4 will be played here Sunday afternoon.

After the game, Portland Coach Rick Adelman inferred that Malone gets away with mayhem on the low post--but he didn’t want to begrudge the Jazz a good showing.

Malone responded that he didn’t want to get into a battle of words--then criticized the Trail Blazers.

Coaches have been frustrated for years by how often Malone goes to the free-throw line. And the Trail Blazers’ reputation has grown to the point that they now are criticized on “Today,” Bryant Gumbel having said on the show this week that he didn’t want the “Cry Blazers” to make the finals.

Malone shot 13 free throws Friday, hardly a shocking number; he averaged 15.8 during the first-round series against the Clippers and had games of 22 and 24. No matter to Adelman.

“He played a great game,” the Portland coach said. “He’s an aggressive player and a physical player and he’s going to come across and demand that spot. We have to adjust to Karl Malone rules.

“They (the Jazz) do a good job of staying with Clyde (Drexler). But I strongly feel the same rules should apply to Clyde Drexler as they do to Karl Malone, and they don’t.”

Buck Williams, who got five fouls while guarding Malone, didn’t even bother with the disclaimer.

“I would love to see him make some moves and score like everyone else in the league does,” he said.

Malone downplayed the comments. Downplayed them until the Trail Blazers were beaten.

“You know what?” he said. “I’m not even getting into it. Two games they won and I had not heard . . . Now I hear something. I’m not getting into a verbal confrontation with anybody. Amazing.

“When we lose ballgames, we take it like men and go about our business. We don’t take shots at anybody. When we lose, we lose. When we win, give us some credit.”

The Jazz earned that much. After holding the Clippers to an average of 98.2 points in five games and the Seattle SuperSonics to 96.8 in the five games of the second-round series, Utah gave up 113 and 119 at Portland. It was time for a stand.

“We just had to make a decision for ourselves if we want a vacation or if we want to win the series,” the Jazz’s John Stockton said after getting 14 points and 10 assists.

Added Coach Jerry Sloan: “It was do or die, basically, to even give ourselves a chance. If you can’t lay it all out, with the fans we have out there, we should be in another business.”

There were bleak moments for the Jazz, especially early in the third quarter, when the Trail Blazers opened a 55-45 lead. Sloan didn’t call a timeout, but he definitely was concerned.

“The start of the third quarter we were very soft and weren’t stopping them,” he said. “They scored three quick baskets. It looked like we weren’t going to fight them at all. It looked like we were going to pack our bags and go home.”

From that came a comeback. The Trail Blazers, playoff losers for only the third time in 12 games, led by 57-47 with 9:49 to play in the quarter. But the Jazz responded with a 14-4 run, Malone getting six of the points, to tie the score at 61-61.

Neither team led by more than four points until the Jazz went ahead by 89-81 with 3:53 remaining. The Trail Blazers then drew back within four, 91-87, on Kevin Duckworth’s basket with 2:06 left.