SPORTSTICKER NBA PLAYOFF RECAP (UTAH-PORTLAND) PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- The Portland Trail Blazers are creating big problems for the Utah Jazz. The massive front line of Brian Grant, Rasheed Wallace and Arvydas Sabonis dominated inside and powered Portland to a 97-87 victory over Utah for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. After matching the Jazz's precision execution down the stretch of a tight Game Two, the Trail Blazers simply muscled their way to an easy win. Utah looked small and slow and is running out of ways to attack Portland. The 6-9 Grant again won his duel with Karl Malone, collecting 16 points and 15 rebounds. He set an early physical tone with his work on the boards. The 6-11 Wallace scored 20 points, most of them on dunks off quick moves near the basket. The Jazz simply have no one on their team who can match the strength and speed of Wallace, who added seven rebounds. The 7-3 Sabonis had 15 points and eight rebounds, clogging the middle and again making Utah center Greg Ostertag a non-factor. Sabonis sat for all of the fourth quarter. All three frontcourt men scored 11 points in the opening half, when the Blazers grabbed 26 rebounds, shot 26 free throws and bolted to a 47-30 lead. Portland led by 25 points early in the third quarter and by double digits until garbage time. Malone had 25 points and 14 rebounds, most of them after Utah fell hopelessly behind. The Jazz had 12 turnovers against 11 baskets in the first half and showed their frustration with a handful of technical and hard fouls. Game Four is Sunday night at Portland, where Utah has lost eight of its last 10 games. The back-to-back games appear to work in favor of the Blazers, who are much deeper and younger than the Jazz and never have lost a series when taking a 2-1 lead. Isaiah Rider had 13 points and eight assists, Damon Stoudamire added 11 points and Greg Anthony 10 as Portland's guards shook off some early cold shooting. Walt Williams added nine points, all on 3-pointers. Jeff Hornacek scored 12 points and John Stockton added nine for the Jazz, who shot less than 39 percent (28-of-72) from the field while committing 35 fouls and 17 turnovers. Grant's early energy helped the Blazers overcome poor shooting. Portland trailed by five points when Grant dunked after a series of offensive rebounds and made a short jumper around a pair of free throws by Sabonis, triggering the huge burst. Two free throws by Ostertag were the Jazz's last points for more than nine minutes. Most of that stretch came with Howard Eisley at point guard and Stockton at the bench. Meanwhile, Portland was blazing, scoring the last seven points of the first quarter to take a 22-16 lead. Matched up against Malone, Grant had eight points and six rebounds in the period. Anthony, who hounded Stockton in the fourth quarter of Game Two, came off the bench and harassed Eisley, stalling Utah's offense. Sabonis hit two free throws, Wallace dunked and Williams buried consecutive 3-pointers before two foul shots by Anthony extended the lead to 34-16 with 7:39 left in the second quarter. A jump hook by Todd Fuller ended a run of 12 straight misses and a basket drought of nearly a quarter for Utah. But nothing was slowing down Portland. Grant made two free throws and Wallace one before flying into the lane for a dunk while drawing a foul. His free throw gave the Blazers a 40-19 bulge with 4:09 to go. The frustration mounted for Utah as Malone and Stockton were hit with technical fouls with 1:02 left. The Jazz trailed 47-30 at halftime and it could have been worse as they held the Blazers' backcourt to 1-of-15 shooting. Any chance Utah had of quickly getting back into the game in the second half ended when it missed six of its first seven shots. Portland's big men continued to assert themselves as Grant and Wallace strung together three dunks before Stoudamire's driving layup gave the Blazers their biggest lead at 58-33 with 7:58 to go in the third quarter. Malone scored 12 points in the period and the Jazz put together a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 65-51 with 2:27 to play. Rider responded with a 3-pointer and the Blazers rebuilt the advantage to 72-55 entering the final period. A layup by Adam Keefe pulled the Jazz within 78-65 with 8:35 to go and Stockton made a steal. But Malone missed a layup and Anthony hit a 3-pointer before trading hard fouls with Stockton.  