Utah’s Road Getting Bumpier With 97-87 Defeat at Portland

If there ever was a time when you could imagine Utah playing this poorly it might be today, when the Jazz plays the second of back-to-back road games against the Portland Trail Blazers.

But at this point it would be difficult to imagine the Jazz playing any worse than it did Saturday in a 97-87 Portland victory at the Rose Garden. In fact, you might not want to.

Portland’s dismantling of the Utah offense reached new levels in Game 3 of this Western Conference semifinals, including a first-half stretch when the Jazz went scoreless for more than nine minutes.

The victory gave Portland a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and left Utah Coach Jerry Sloan questioning the competitive nature of his team.

“They just kicked our rear end from the beginning,” Sloan said. “We didn’t come ready to play. They wanted to win this game; we just showed up. I can’t accept that.

“They waxed us every way that you can be waxed.”

Utah won’t get any younger or gain more energy before today’s 5:30 p.m. tip-off, so the Jazz must figure out a way to get back to the precision offensive execution that helped it advance to the NBA finals the last two seasons.

“We are not cutting, we’re not doing all the little things,” Utah forward Bryon Russell said. “I caught myself standing a couple times.”

Portland’s defense was so good that the Trail Blazers could afford to play a so-so offensive game and win comfortably. They got solid point production from seven players, ranging from reserve Walt Williams’ nine points in 19 minutes to Rasheed Wallace’s 20 points. Isaiah Rider, whose 27 points led the Trail Blazers to victory in Game 2, demonstrated another facet of his game with a career-high eight assists.

There’s no category in the record books for what happened to Utah in the first half because it didn’t come in the exact framework of one quarter. But for a 12-minute stretch the Jazz scored only three points, an even worse performance than the record-setting five points the Trail Blazers scored in the fourth quarter of Game 1.

Greg Ostertag made two free throws to put the Jazz ahead, 16-15, with 4:01 remaining in the first. It turned out to be Utah’s final lead and final points of the quarter.

Utah didn’t score until Todd Fuller made hook shot with 6:50 remaining in the half, after 19 consecutive Portland points. It took Utah more than two minutes to get its next point, a free throw by Shandon Anderson.

The Jazz committed nine turnovers in the second quarter, helping Portland open a lead that grew as large as 21 points.

“They put pressure on us, but not the type of pressure for us to throw the ball away,” Jazz forward Karl Malone said. “We just threw the ball away way too much. You can’t afford to do that.”

Because the Trail Blazers (particularly guard Greg Anthony) did such a good job of containing Utah’s point guards, the Jazz offense was at its best when it ran through Malone. But in the first half that turned him into little more than a passer and a jump shooter.

Malone’s final statistics--25 points (nine on free throws) and 14 rebounds--were as deceptive as most of the Jazz numbers. John Stockton had only three assists and foul-plagued Russell and Anderson combined for three points through three quarters.

Utah outrebounded Portland, 45-41, but Portland’s 11-4 advantage on the offensive end in the first half was key. Malone and Sloan actually got into a bit of a battle through the media over Malone’s minutes. Sloan said he likes to take Malone out near the end of the first quarter to rest him and help avoid injury. When that was relayed to Malone he said he has played this long (almost 42,000 minutes) without getting hurt, so a few more won’t matter.

So that’s what it has come to: the Trail Blazers in command of the series and their composure, the Jazz on different pages.