Trail Blazers Have a Little Extra : NBA finals: Portland evens series in overtime, 115-104, after Drexler and Kersey foul out. Jordan scores 39 again.

Role model this.

Spurned by the world in general and the Chicago Bulls in particular, the Portland Trail Blazers, minus Clyde Drexler, rallied from 10 points down in the last 4:25 of regulation Friday night and won in overtime, 115-104, tying the NBA finals, 1-1.

The Trail Blazers?

The team Scottie Pippen sneered at, sniffing that the Bulls were “a much smarter team . . . and we have role models on the court”?

The team Bull Coach Phil Jackson said “will self-destruct if we show them how”?

Under a banner that read “Beat the Dummies,” it was the Trail Blazers who executed perfectly in the clutch . . . and the Bulls who pulled the gaffe of the night.

Not only that, it was the Main Bull.

With the Bulls up, 92-82, it was Michael Jordan himself in what should have been the final minutes of another brilliant game, who complained to referee Jess Kersey and was hit with a technical foul. Terry Porter hit the foul shot and two more, and the Trail Blazers, without Drexler, who had fouled out, were three-10ths of the way into their comeback.

“I was a little upset with the direction the game took after Michael got that technical,” Jackson said, putting it mildly.

“Michael got a little hand-checking foul. He protested--mildly. Suddenly they got a three-point play to get back in the game without earning it.”

Well, maybe it wasn’t that mildly.

“I probably said some things I shouldn’t have said to him,” Jordan said. “He was miked. He had a microphone on (NBA Entertainment was doing it for a feature on officials.) I think he was kind of embarrassed.

“I didn’t curse at him, but I cursed at the play.”

BEfore you could say, “Whatever happened to free speech?” the Trail Blazers had gone 13-3 to tie the game.

Danny Ainge, Porter’s partners in the absence of Drexler, hit a driving layup to cut it to 95-93, then zipped a pretty pass to Jerome Kersey heading for the hoop. Kersey dropped in an easy layup with 45 seconds left and the game was tied.

Meanwhile, the Bulls were once again running out of shooters.

It was Mike, who went for another 39, and little else.

John Paxson, who had knocked in three three-pointers in the Bulls’ third-quarter surge, missed five of his last six shots.

Pippen--sound familiar?--missed 11 of his last 14.

With 31 seconds left in regulation, Jordan hit a routinely spectacular layup-flipped-back-over-his-head for a 97-95 lead.

Jackson then played his ace, assigning Jordan to guard Porter. Sure enough, the Trail Blazers ran a play for Porter coming off a baseline screen, but Jordan popped through it with him and there went the first option.

Jordan and Bill Cartwright trapped Porter, who retreated into the backcourt and dropped the ball off to Kevin Duckworth, who had set the screen, now gloriously alone, 10 feet from the basket.

Duckworth coldly dropped the jumper with 13 seconds left.

Guess who was going to take the last Chicago shot in regulation?

Jackson had Jordan bring the ball the length of the court, the same play he ran against the Lakers last spring at the end of the pivotal Game 3, when Jordan hit a 15-footer to send the game into overtime, where the Bulls won it.

This time Porter, thinking back, got him to settle for an 18-footer, which missed.

Jordan started the overtime hitting a pretty fall-away 15-footer, but that was it for the Bulls.

The Trail Blazers then went on an 18-5 run, even though Kersey joined Drexler on the bench with six fouls, with Ainge scoring nine of the points, and the series was even.

Said Jackson, still putting it mildly, “I’m sure we’ll look back and rue this a little bit.”

Said Jordan: “It really was a disappointing loss . . . I think this hurts a little bit, to lose it like we did, but if you plan on being champions, you’ve got to fight back.”

For the next three games, they will be fighting back in Portland.

Of course, the Trail Blazers were in this exact position in the ’90 finals. They won Game 2 in overtime against the Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills, returned to Portland tied 1-1 . . . and lost three in a row. Even if none of them was Phi Beta Kappa, they knew not to pop off Friday.

On the other hand, they did enjoy the night.

“They (the Bulls) have got momentum,” Ainge said, remembering the fourth-quarter rally. “The crowd’s in the game. They’ve got a 10-point lead. Drexler just fouled out. It’s not looking good. I thought the next two minutes would be critical.”

And the turning point?

“When Drexler fouled out,” Ainge said, grinning.

NBA Notes

The greatest beneficiary of the Portland comeback? Clyde Drexler. He committed his fourth foul early in the third quarter--intentionally--grabbing Michael Jordan, who was going in for a layup. Then he fouled out, grabbing Scottie Pippen to stop a breakaway layup with 4:36 left in the game. Drexler: “If that’s all it takes, fouling out to win, I can do it.”