...LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Portland Trail Blazers, solid at every position, are solidly in control of the Utah Jazz. Arvydas Sabonis scored 22 points and Steve Smith had 21 as the Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 103-84 Thursday night for a 3-0 lead...

...crammed the ball down their smart defense, snapped shut the gaping mouths of their 20,135 fans, then stuffed Arvydas Sabonis on the game's last play to ensure a victory ... did you see what escaped? His tongue. Of course, his tongue...

...points) and reserve center Reggie Slater (nine points, six rebounds), who gave up eight inches to 7-foot-3 Arvydas Sabonis, drew the most notice. "You've got to have role players," Slater said. "I think that's a problem in Portland...

...playing so well that when you do that defensively, it puts a lot of pressure on them.'' Wallace and the 7-foot-3 Arvydas Sabonis harassed Garnett into shooting just 4-for-24 from the field. Garnett, who missed the rim completely on a number...

...MVP. And that the successful double and triple teams used in the Western Conference Finals by Portland with huge Arvydas Sabonis, long and athletic Scottie Pippen, and longer and more athletic Rasheed Wallace won't work with the slighter...

...took over.'' Greg Anthony added 12 points in the final period, and Damon Stoudamire finished with 14 points. Arvydas Sabonis had 14 rebounds and Brian Grant added 10. Utah's last playoff win here was on April 30, 1988, in Game 2 of the...

...was supposed to be Minnesota's X-factor against Portland, the big man who came off the bench to help contain Arvydas Sabonis. Instead, he's been a non-factor, and his injured knee might keep him out of Game 3 altogether when the playoff...

...9.9 points, scored just four in 17 minutes. Of course, he didn't return after being flattened by a driving Arvydas Sabonis with 6:15 to go. ''It's funny, I thought he was going to be a big factor,'' Saunders said of Smith...

...more like last season's NBA champion, the prevailing image was of O'Neal puffing up his chest and glowering at Arvydas Sabonis, whose flagrant foul early in the third quarter had knocked Bryant off the floor. Bryant, who scored 25 points...

...We're not going to be pushed around.'' The Blazers are fortunate to be ahead 1-0, considering center Arvydas Sabonis didn't score until the fourth quarter and Minnesota's best two players were invisible in an awful fourth quarter...