SALT LAKE CITY (May 18, 1999) -- Karl Malone's big left elbow knocked down Brian Grant and
rocked the rest of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Malone had 25 points, 12 rebounds and one timely elbow that shifted the momentum in the
second quarter and powered the Utah Jazz to a 93-83 victory over Portland in the opener of
their Western Conference semifinal series.
The two-time defending Western Conference champion Jazz barely got past the Sacramento
Kings in the first round and quickly found themselves down 15 points to the big and athletic
Trail Blazers.
Often accused of being a dirty player, Malone beat Grant on a drive and swung his left
elbow into Grant's jaw. Grant went down and stayed there for a minute, then came up
enraged as he was whistled for his third foul and had to sit down with 3:27 to go.
"It was just one of those things that happened," Malone said. "I don't go out to hurt
anybody."
"I don't really know what it was," Grant said. "I just know it wasn't a foul. You can't foul
somebody with your chin on his elbow and that was my main gripe. I mean it hurt, but I
wasn't really worried about that he did it on purpose. It's just the fact that a foul was called
(on me) from him swinging his elbows into my face."
Malone made a free throw to trigger a 14-3 burst that pulled the Jazz into a tie just before
halftime. Utah hung around through the third quarter, then held Portland to just 2-of-15
shooting and an NBA playoff low of five points in the final period.
"From the second quarter on I thought we started competing harder, especially when it came
down to the fourth quarter," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.
"We started out playing well and did a lot of positive things and in the fourth quarter we
obviously ran into a dry spell and had a hard time making some shots," Portland coach Mike
Dunleavy said.
Grant scored 19 points before fouling out in the final period. He began his ballyhooed
matchup with Malone by tripping him on a fast break in the first quarter and the game was
dotted by hard fouls throughout.
Game Two of the best-of-seven series is Thursday at Utah. The Jazz have won three straight
playoff games and the Blazers lost for the first time in four postseason contests.
"We knew coming into the gym tonight that they were going to come at us with everything
and we were in for a physical dogfight," said Malone, who shot 6-of-15 from the field. "I
think there was just as much banging and elbows coming from both sides and it's not going to
change when we tie up the laces again on Thursday. In fact, it probably will be even more
physical."
After Grant's departure, Malone and Bryon Russell made jumpers, Shandon Anderson sank
four free throws and John Stockton made a layup and jumper, turning the second basket into
a three-point play and give the Jazz a 48-48 tie with seven seconds left in the half.
"I don't know that that caused a shift in the momentum," Grant said. "You know things like
that are going to happen in a game and so they did not beat us. We beat ourselves."
Portland led 78-74 entering the fourth quarter and began with some rough stuff of its own.
Rasheed Wallace slammed a driving Russell to the floor and was called for both flagrant and
technical fouls. Utah coach Jerry Sloan argued with Portland coach Mike Dunleavy on the
court.
"It really wasn't anything they did right as much as what we did wrong," Wallace said. "We
came out and tried to out-physical them and they got some bad calls. It's hard to play
playoff-style basketball when your big guys are all sitting on the bench with foul trouble."
Howard Eisley and Russell each made free throws and Thurl Bailey sank a jumper to tie the
game with 10:20 left. Todd Fuller and Jimmy Jackson traded free throws before Russell
scored to give the Jazz the lead for good at 83-81 with 6:41 remaining.
Malone scored inside and made two free throws before Grant ended a basket drought of
8:20 for Portland, cutting the deficit to 85-81 with 4:02 to go. But Isaiah Rider missed a
3-pointer and Damon Stoudamire threw away a pass, leading to Russell's layup with 2:51
left.
Fuller and Malone made two free throws apiece as Grant fouled out, giving Utah a 91-81
bulge with 1:47 left.
Russell scored 18 points and Stockton added 10 and seven assists for the Jazz, who shot
45.5 percent (30-of-66) from the field and held a 43-36 rebounding edge over the bigger
Blazers.
"We just held our composure and kept playing hard and didn't give up," Russell said. "That's
the sign of a strong team and a veteran team and we kept coming at them until we tied it up.
We felt going into the locker room we were in a position to win."
Stoudamire scored 12 points and Rider added 12 for Portland, which shot 44 percent
(33-of-75) and made 15-of-25 free throws. Utah was 30-of-42 from the line.
Much was made of Portland's depth, but Utah's bench held a 26-18 scoring edge.
The Blazers opened a 22-19 lead after one quarter and used a pair of bursts to widen the
advantage. Grant scored five points in an 8-2 spurt that opened the second quarter and gave
Portland a 30-21 bulge with 9:31 remaining.
Reserve guard Greg Anthony increased the tempo with his defense and scored five points in
a 10-2 surge. Grant's two free throws gave the Blazers their largest lead at 42-27 with 6:11
left.
"Give them some credit. Many times we came down the floor and they were on top of our
passes," Sloan said. "They knew where the ball was supposed to go and they were there on
top of it. They studied films and you could see they knew what plays we were going to run.
They are quick hitters, they are long and tough and they made us take some tough shots. But
we settled down and got a little more basketball-minded."
PORTLAND (83)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
B Grant 31 8-13 3-4 3-6 1 6 19
Wallace 34 3-8 4-5 1-3 3 5 10
Sabonis 24 3-9 3-4 3-11 0 4 9
Rider 35 6-14 0-0 1-2 3 2 12
Stoudamire 36 7-14 0-1 0-3 5 5 15
Anthony 12 2-7 2-3 1-2 1 1 6
Augmon 23 2-3 0-0 1-5 1 1 4
Cato 14 0-0 1-4 1-1 0 2 1
Jackson 19 1-4 1-2 0-2 1 1 3
Oneal 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Williams 10 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 3 4
G Grant DNP - coach's decision
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 240 33-75 15-25 11-36 15 30 83
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.440, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
2-11, .182 (Sabonis 0-1, Rider 0-2, Stoudamire
1-3, Anthony 0-2, Jackson 0-1, Williams 1-2).
Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 4 (Wallace, B
Grant, Sabonis, Williams). Turnovers: 12
(Stoudamire 7, Sabonis 2, Augmon, Rider). Steals:
10 (Anthony 3, Sabonis 2, Wallace 2, B Grant,
Jackson, Stoudamire).
UTAH (93)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Malone 41 6-15 13-17 3-12 5 3 25
Russell 42 7-13 2-6 1-7 3 3 18
Ostertag 27 2-3 2-2 2-6 0 3 6
Hornacek 24 3-6 1-1 0-3 1 2 8
Stockton 32 4-10 2-5 2-3 7 1 10
Anderson 25 2-6 4-4 1-4 3 4 8
Bailey 7 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 4
Eisley 16 1-7 3-3 0-2 3 3 5
Foster 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Fuller 18 2-3 3-4 1-5 0 3 7
Keefe 5 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Vaughn DNP - coach's decision
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 240 30-66 30-42 10-43 22 23 93
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.455, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
3-11, .273 (Russell 2-7, Hornacek 1-1, Stockton
0-1, Anderson 0-1, Eisley 0-1). Team rebounds:
13. Blocked shots: 3 (Ostertag 2, Keefe).
Turnovers: 14 (Malone 4, Stockton 4, Eisley 2,
Fuller, Hornacek, Russell). Steals: 6 (Malone 3,
Anderson, Russell, Stockton).
____________________________________________
Portland 22 28 28 5 - 83
Utah 19 29 26 19 - 93
____________________________________________
Technical fouls: Portland 1 (Wallace, 10:35 4th).
Flagrant fouls: Portland 1 (Wallace, 10:35 4th).
A: 19,911. T: 2:23. Officials: Joe Crawford, Ed F
Rush, Bernie Fryer.
Jazz Shut Down Portland in Game 1 of Western Conference Semi-Finals, 93-83
