Getting a leg up on the Portland Trail Blazers is proving a major problem for the Jazz. The story goes like this: The Jazz win three of four in the regular season last year, but lose out to the Blazers in the playoffs. An off-season trade gives the Jazz experience and depth as they acquire Larry Krystkowiak and Jay Humphries - but wait. The Blazers' send their regards by signing free agent Rod Strickland. Need we go on?
The Jazz may have beaten the Blazers in Portland already this month, but that didn't prevent a swift reply. The Blazers scored an impressive 78 points in the second half to take a 124-113 nationally-televised win over the Jazz, Sunday at the Delta Center.And as surely as the Jazz expect to be in the playoffs in May, they know something else: Portland will be there waiting. "I think we are Western Conference champs from last year and they have to come through us either way," said Portland guard Clyde Drexler.
Surely these teams are beyond thinking they'll surpise one another by now. Karl Malone (who else?) explodes for a season-high 42 points in the kind of night that makes Blazers' coach Rick Adelman want to cry. Nevertheless, the Blazers have their own ways of torture. Clyde Drexler (28 points), Terry Porter and Kevin Duckworth combine for 70 points, while Strickland and Cliff Robinson come off the bench to score 17 and 20, respectively.
What's a team with title aspirations supposed to do? "The last couple of years they knocked us out of the playoffs, so I'm sure they're thinking they can beat us every time," said Jazz guard Jeff Malone. "But I love to play 'em."
For most of the night, nobody loved playing the Blazers more than Karl Malone. Buck Williams, who normally plays Malone as effectively as anyone, was at a loss to stop the Mailman's inside game. After Malone had scored his first 10 points, the Blazers tried Mark Bryant out. Bad idea. Later the job went to Cliff Robinson. But the Mailman paid no attention to any of them, rolling across the lane for hooks or backing down inside for short bank-shots.
"He's just so aggressive," said Adelman. "And I don't know anybody who delivers the ball to those spots like (John) Stockton does. It seems like wherever the spot is, Stockton gets it to him."
But while the Stockton-to-Malone combination was rolling along, the Blazers had their own unstoppable answer in Strickland.
It wasn't as though Strickland's stats - 17 points, six assists - were so impressive, as was the timing. Each time the Jazz appeared ready to pull away, there was Strickland, spinning inside for a layup, kicking the ball back out to an open man or drawing a foul. "The main thing that hurt us was Strickland," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "Whenever he penetrated, we didn't have anybody to rotate over at all. He had a straight lane to the basket. When we tried to plug one thing up, it seemed like another thing opened up for them."
Though the Jazz lead crept to a nine point lead several times, it was never safe. Portland scored three straight baskets midway through the third quarter to cut the Jazz lead from eight points to two. That ended the Jazz's plans to salt the game away early.
Even as the Blazers were staging their comeback, the Mailman ran into the only thing that could slow him all night: himself. He drew his fourth foul with 5:44 left in the third quarter on a charge. He sat out the rest of the period. With Malone out, the Blazers went ahead by three and held an 83-81 lead going into the fourth quarter.
"It's one of those things," said the Mailman of his fourth foul. "You can't go back and look at that and say that's why we lost the game. I don't know where we lost it. I really don't. We lost the (expletive) game."
Strickland saved his best moments for last, scoring 12 points in the last quarter. He landed two free throws to pull Portland ahead 89-88 with 9:52 to go. He drove for a layup that cut a four-point Jazz lead to two, just after Utah's David Benoit landed a big three-pointer. He made back-to-back baskets in the middle of the period to tie the score.
With the score knotted at 102-102, the Blazers made their final push. Duckworth spun for a basket, Strickland made two free throws and after Karl Malone made one of two free throws - he was 3-7 from the line in the fourth quarter - Duckworth scored again. When a Stockton shot missed, Duckworth scored again on a layup, after which Porter intercepted a pass, leading to another Strickland basket, putting Portland ahead 112-103 with 3:13 to go.
The Blazers then made 10 straight free throws in the final two minutes to hold the Jazz at a safe distance.
Having lost their third game in four outings, the Jazz took a predictably dim view of things in the locker room. "Didn't" was the operative word of the day. They didn't play defense in the second half, they didn't keep their composure and they didn't enjoy losing.
"Who likes to lose?" grumped the Mailman. "Losing ain't fun for anybody. Any coach tells you they like to lose shouldn't be coaching. End of story."
GAME NOTES: Portland has won five in a row and nine of 11 . . . Mark Eaton registered season highs for the Jazz in minutes , points and rebounds . . . Coupled with San Antonio's win over Chicago, the Jazz are now just a half-game ahead of the Spurs in the Midwest Division race.