PORTLAND 97, UTAH 87 -------------------- 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. SAN ANTONIO 103, LA LAKERS 91 ----------------------------- INGLEWOOD, California (Ticker) -- Tim Duncan was the lone tower but he had plenty of help from the "Twin Tinies." Duncan collected 37 points and 14 rebounds and Jaren Jackson and Avery Johnson had huge fourth quarters as the San Antonio Spurs pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination with a 103-91 victory in Game Three of the Western Conference semifinal series. Even with fellow "Twin Tower" David Robinson limited to 24 minutes by foul trouble, Duncan simply was unstoppable. He was 19-of-23 from the line as he matched the 1999 individual playoff high. In the first three quarters, Duncan carried the offense. In the final period, he effectively passed out of double-teams to the perimeter, where Jackson and Johnson were burying open jumpers. The 6-4 Jackson scored a playoff career-high 22 points off the bench, making 9-of-15 shots. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and helped hold Kobe Bryant scoreless for the final six-plus minutes. The 5-11 Johnson was held to two points through the first 3 1/2 quarters but made three clutch jumpers in the final six minutes. He is shooting 55 percent from the field in the postseason.  