Blazers Stay Alive With Ot Victory
NBA
Buck Williams scored the go-ahead basket on an offensive rebound with 14.1 seconds left in overtime, and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame poor free-throw shooting to beat the Utah Jazz 94-91 Monday night in Portland and stay alive in their first-round playoff series.
Utah still leads the best-of-five series 2-1, with Game 4 Wednesday night in Portland’s Rose Garden.
Williams grabbed a rebound of Arvydas Sabonis’ missed hook shot and put back a layup to give the Trail Blazers a 93-91 lead. It was only Williams’ second field goal of the game.
Utah had a chance to tie it, but John Stockton missed a 15-foot jumper and Portland’s Harvey Grant grabbed the rebound with 3.5 seconds remaining.
Rod Strickland, who scored 16 of his 19 points after halftime, was fouled and made one of two free throws with 2.7 seconds left to make it 94-91. With sharpshooter Jeff Hornacek on the bench after fouling out, the Jazz got the ball to Chris Morris, whose 3-pointer from 3 feet beyond the top of the key was off the mark at the buzzer.
Karl Malone scored 35 points on 13-for-30 shooting for Utah.
Stockton had 13 points and 11 assists for Utah.
Trail Blazers 94, Jazz 91 (OT)
Utah (91) - Benoit 4-16 0-0 8, Malone 13-30 9-12 35, Spencer 3-5 0-0 6, Hornacek 4-13 1-1 9, Stockton 2-6 8-8 13, Eisley 0-2 0-0 0, Russell 1-2 0-0 3, Ostertag 3-6 1-1 7, Carr 4-8 2-2 10, Morris 0-2 0-0 0, Keefe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-90 21-24 91.
Portland (94) - C.Robinson 3-12 5-7 11, Grant 3-10 0-0 6, Sabonis 10-22 5-11 27, McKie 4-10 7-9 16, Strickland 6-19 7-11 19, Dudley 0-1 1-2 1, Williams 2-8 1-2 5, R.Robinson 1-3 1-2 3, Wingfield 2-5 0-2 6. Totals 31-90 27-46 94.
Utah 17 14 28 24 8 - 91
Portland 11 26 26 20 11 - 94
3-Point goals-Utah 2-10 (Stockton 1-1, Russell 1-1, Morris 0-1, Hornacek 0-3, Benoit 0-4), Portland 5-16 (Wingfield 2-3, Sabonis 2-5, McKie 1-3, Strickland 0-2, C.Robinson 0-3). Fouled out- Hornacek. Rebounds-Utah 63 (Benoit 11), Portland 74 (Sabonis 12). Assists-Utah 19 (Stockton 11), Portland 16 (Strickland 8). Total fouls-Utah 35, Portland 25. Technicals-Portland illegal defense 2. A-21,401 (21,401).
Hawks 90, Pacers 83
Atlanta
Atlanta took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Eastern Conference series, beating Indiana behind 26 points from Steve Smith and 24 from Christian Laettner. Game 4 is Thursday night at the Omni. If the Pacers win, the deciding game is Sunday at Indianapolis. Atlanta is trying to advance to the second round for only the second time in eight years.
Laettner, appearing in his first playoff series, outplayed Indiana center Rik Smits and Mookie Blaylock tied a playoff record with eight steals, including two in the closing seconds.
Atlanta went nearly 4 minutes without scoring until Laettner put the Hawks ahead for good, backing in against three defenders and putting in a shot that made it 81-80 with 3:06 remaining.
Then, after Indiana missed two straight 3-pointers, Smith fired in a shot from at least 5 feet behind the stripe as the 24-second clock expired to push Atlanta’s lead to 84-80.
Haywoode Workman hit a 3-pointer for Indiana with 57 seconds to go, but that was the last basket for the Pacers.
Indiana (83) - McKey 6-14 1-1 13, D.Davis 6-7 0-0 12, Smits 5-14 3-4 13, Pierce 4-14 0-0 10, Jackson 3-10 1-1 7, A.Davis 2-3 4-6 8, Best 2-4 0-0 4, Ferrell 2-5 0-1 4, Workman 5-6 0-0 12. Totals 35-77 9-13 83.
Atlanta (90) - Augmon 2-7 2-4 6, Long 6-15 1-2 13, Laettner 7-17 10-11 24, Smith 10-15 1-2 26, Blaylock 6-15 2-3 16, Ehlo 0-3 0-0 0, Henderson 2-4 0-0 4, Rooks 0-0 1-2 1, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-76 17-24 90.
Indiana 20 20 25 18 - 83
Atlanta 21 19 29 21 - 90
3-Point goals-I 4-10 (Workman 2-2, Pierce 2-5, Best 0-1, Jackson 0-2), A 7-18 (Smith 5-8, Blaylock 2-7, Ehlo 0-1, Long 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-I 50 (D.Davis 10), A 46 (Laettner 8). Assists-I 16 (Jackson 6), A 18 (Blaylock 7). Total fouls-I 22, A 15. Technicals-Atlanta illegal defense. A-11,290 (16,378).