This looks more and more like a nightmare scenario Jazz fans have replayed in their tortured minds for the past year.
See if it rings a fearful bell: The Jazz take the lead in a five-game playoff series, get handled in Game 4 on the opponents' homecourt, then return to Salt Lake City for Game 5.Uh, Houston? Yep. And if that isn't a promising enough omen for the Portland Trail Blazers, after Wednesday night's 98-90 defeat of the Jazz at the Rose Garden, there are several others. For one thing, the Blazers finally located their shooting touch, which was absent in the first three games. For another thing, they figured out how to keep Karl Malone from going for 30-plus. And for another thing, the Jazz continue to show a marked inability to stop Portland center Arvydas Sabonis and point guard Rod Strickland.
The Blazers were so good, in fact, that the Jazz couldn't sing their praises enough.
"They were as good as I expected them to be," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "They were just too tough for us."
"I never doubted this Portland team from the beginning," said Jazz forward David Benoit.
"They're playing pretty well," said guard John Stockton. "They're beating us in all phases."
Gee, with support like that, how could a team go wrong?
Suddenly the Blazers, who allowed Utah to shoot 57.6 and 59.4 percent in the two games in Salt Lake, are holding the Jazz to shooting percentages in the 30s. Asked if the Blazers were 20-percentage-point-better defenders in Portland, Stockton said, "Or are we 20-percentage-point-worse shooters here? I don't know. Food for thought, I guess."
Only Malone declined to say the Blazers were vastly improved defensively.
"I'm not going to say their defense was that much better than it was in the past," he said. "You guys say what you want to say."
It did appear, though, as if veteran power forward Buck Williams had Malone's number this time. And the Blazers in general were the more aggressive team, bumping and banging Jazzmen at every opportunity. The rugged play and no whistles led to a first-quarter technical on the Mailman, who admitted afterward that he became too concerned with the officiating.
"I have to play well for us to win, and I didn't play well tonight," Malone said. "I did something I haven't done for awhile; I let the referee dictate how I was going to play."
Malone had his worst game of the series, missing 12 of 16 shots in totaling 15 points, six rebounds.
"He took some tough shots," Sloan acknowledged. "He took some tough shots in the first two games, and he made them. Tonight they didn't go in."
Stockton tried to pick up the slack by shooting, something he hasn't done recently, and he looked a little rusty.
"We were kind of dragging a little bit and I tried to do something extra, but I couldn't make a layup or a jumper," he said, after a 3-for-13 shooting performance.
Sloan said it boiled down to his team just not making the mental commitment.
"I don't think we played as hard as we're capable of playing," he said. "They made us play harder than we wanted to play."
The Jazz trailed by 10 after the first period and 14 at halftime after being behind as much as 19 in the second quarter. Sloan let them know what he thought of their play at halftime.
"He got after us a little bit," Hornacek said. "He said we came here expecting to win without that extra effort you need to win in the playoffs. He was a little upset about that."
It helped a little. The Jazz fell behind by 21 early in the third but roared back to within eight as Hornacek heated up. They trailed by 13 early in the fourth quarter and twice closed to within nine, but Strickland hit a couple of big shots that turned them away. The Blazer guard made 10 of 16 shots for 27 points, with seven assists, six rebounds. And Sabonis totaled 25 points, 13 rebounds, as the Blazers again dominated the glass, 43-34.
Hornacek led the Jazz with 30 points - his second 30-point effort of the series - on 11 of 17 from the field, including 4-of-4 (for the third time in three games) from the 3-point line. David Benoit, who wore a wrap to protect a sore knee suffered in a collision during shootaround Wednesday, made five of nine shots for 13 points.
The series concludes Sunday at the Delta Center.