Blazers Bounce Jazz In OT

Damon Stoudamire saved Portland after Scottie Pippen, Rasheed Wallace and Arvidas Sabonis fouled out.

At 5-foot-10 the smallest player on the court, Stoudamire scored nine of his season-high 32 points in overtime, including the winning jumper, as the Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz 103-102 Thursday night.

"With all those guys fouled out, the team looked to me to make the difference," Stoudamire said, who recovered to hit the deciding basket with 0.4 seconds left after Utah's John Stockton had knocked the ball away.

"I beat John but he poked the ball out and it hit Danny Manning's leg. It bounced right back to me and I just put it up. I had no time to think."

It was Portland's fourth straight victory over the Jazz, which also has lost four in a row at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

The basket allowed Stoudamire to redeem himself after fouling Stockton on a driving basket with 4.8 seconds left in overtime. Stockton made the free throw to complete the three-point play and Utah led 102-101.

That was set up when Portland's Dale Davis was fouled with 11.5 seconds to go but shot an air ball on his first free throw attempt and then missed the second.

Pippen had 22 points and Wallace 21 as the Blaers picked up their seventh victory in nine games. Wallace has scored at least 20 points in eight consecutive games.

"Damon played great for us and he's really been taking games over at the end. Tonight he stepped up and played like an All-Star," Pippen said.

Both teams are 20-10.

"We're struggling here, there's no doubt about that but we would have won the game if I would have made my free throw shots," said Utah's Manning, who missed two free throws with the score tied at 92 and 39.7 seconds remaining in regulation. The Jazz shot 22-of-36 from the line, including just 14-of-25 after the half

Bryon Russell had 20 points, Donyell Marshall 19, and Karl Malone 18 for the Jazz. But Malone shot just 5-of-16 from the field.

The Blazers have knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs each the past two years.

"We were afraid to go in there and make a play, because we worried about mistakes we had made. Consequently we missed free throws and turned the ball over again," said Utah coach Jerry Sloan, whose team had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Stoudamire hit 12 of 18 shots and helped force Stockton into five turnovers.

With six points from Malone, the Jazz began the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run and led 87-77 with 7:51 remaining. Portland didn't score until Pippen's 3-pointer 4:30 into the final period.

But the Blazers didn't fold. Stoudamire scored four points to spark a 10-1 run that tied the game 92-92 with 2:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"They dominated us until we made that run in the fourth quarter. We dug down and hung in there until things started to swing our way," Stoudamire said.

Portland made a charge in the third quarter after falling behind 70-57. Pippen's 3-pointer, quick steal and pass to Stoudamire for another 3-pointer capped a 13-3 run to make it 73-70 for the Jazz with 2:17 left in the third period.

Two unlikely scorers helped Utah to a 53-46 halftime lead. Olden Polynice had 10 points in the first quarter and Marshall had 11 points in the second quarter.

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