Trail Blazers Put Jazz on Spot

It wasn’t that the Utah Jazz couldn’t get any shots against the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Utah shot 73 times, nine more than Portland.

And it wasn’t that the Jazz couldn’t make shots; Utah’s field-goal percentage of 45% was decent, not horrendous.

It’s just that rarely have the Jazz been forced to work so hard for shots. Normally Utah milks the shot clock, forcing teams to defend for so long that they’re bound to make a mistake eventually.

On Tuesday night the Jazz players battled the shot clock, often taking whatever shots they could because they weren’t sure another opportunity would present itself before the allotted 24 seconds elapsed.

“They were terrific at being able to keep us from getting anything at all inside,” Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said of the Trail Blazers. “We had no place to go. They wouldn’t let us.”

The statistics were deceptively close--as was the final score of 103-85--for a game in which Portland led by 33 points in the fourth quarter.

The key numbers were Portland’s 25-16 advantage at the free-throw line and Portland’s conversion of 17 Utah turnovers into 27 points. That was the biggest example of how the Trail Blazers’ whole game started on the defensive end.

And Utah shooting guard Jeff Hornacek didn’t make a field goal and finished with two points.

“Defense has been a big plus for us,” Portland forward Scottie Pippen said. “We’re getting back to being a real good defensive team and a team that can have a lot of good things happen during the playoffs.

“It’s about us knowing what their plays are about and staying between them and the basket. They’re a team that executes very well, and you have to stay between them and the basket. They make cuts, they get their hands on the ball, they throw their arms and the officials tend to give them those calls. We’ve been very active on the ball, away from the ball, and trying to play the passing lanes, getting deflections, making them turn the ball over--something they’re not accustomed to doing.”

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As if Portland needed any more depth, reserve guard Bonzi Wells got a chance to play extended minutes and build his confidence. He played only eight minutes over two games in Portland’s 3-1 series victory over Minnesota in the first round and didn’t play in Game 1 of this series.

Tuesday he was on the court for 18 minutes, made seven of his nine shots and finished with 17 points.

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Utah forward Karl Malone on the Trail Blazers and their surging confidence: “Those guys are like sharks. They smell the blood.”