European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 30, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Blazers reach final Portland ousts jazz awaits bulls cars Winner Utah a Karl  to hold Back Portland a Buck Williams on thursday night. By Bob Mims Salt Lake City a the Portland Trail blazers took a Road that few teams travelled All season to Advance to the Aba finals. The blazers behind a smothering second half defense and 18 Points each from Clyde Drexler Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter handed the Utah jazz just their fifth defeat in 50 Home games 105-97 thursday night to win the Best of seven Western conference finals 4-2. The Victory moves Portland into the Aba finals for the second time in three years where the blazers will face the Winner of the Chicago Cleveland series that the defending Champion bulls Lead 3-2. The finals begin wednesday night in Portland if the Cavaliers win and in Chicago if the bulls win. The Trail blazers despite falling behind 9-0, pulled away in the second half by holding the jazz who won their first eight Home playoff games to nine Field goals and 2z.5 percent shooting in the second half and a total of 38 Points after halftime. Karl Malone had 23 Points and 19 rebounds for the jazz who won just one of seven playoff Road games while they won their first eight at Home. But Malone scored just 2 Points in the fourth Quarter As the jazz failed to mount a rally. John Stockton who missed the second half of game 5 after being accidentally poked in the left Eye by Drexler finished with 15 Points and 12 assists. He led the jazz to a 59-55 Lead at halftime with 10 Points and 10 assists. Tyrone Corbin had 22 Points for Utah making its first appearance in the conference finals. The Trail blazers who won their Only Aba title in 1977, lost in the Aba finals in 1990 to Detroit. Portland opened the fourth Quarter by scoring 10 of the first 14 Points for an 8781 Lead keyed by Danny Ainger a two 3-pointers. The Trail blazers largest Lead was 9485 on porters driving Layup with 4 28 left. Then the jazz came Back with 5 consecutive Points closing to 94-90 with 2 32 left. It was 100-94 with 31 seconds to go before Stockton a 3-Pointer eight seconds later pulled the jazz within 3, but Utah did not score again As Portland clinched the Victory at the free throw line. Two layups by Drexler who scored 12 Points in the third Quarter and a pair of free throws by Kersey gave Portland its first Lead of the second half 61-59. Drexler made it 76-72 with a 17-footer late in the third Quarter but two foul shots by Stockton and corbins jumper made it 77-77 going into the final period. If there were doubts about Stockton a recovery from the Eye injury they were erased m the first two minutes thursday. The All Star Point guard hit Back to Back driving layups and a free throw then passed to Malone and Blue de the stars and Stripe sports May 30,1992 b Page 28 inside sports 1 French open winners losers a Page 22 major league individual team averages a Page 23 nets Hope Daly fills a respect void a Page 25 red sox sweep Angels in Anaheim a Page 26 wards for inside baskets keying the game opening 9-0 run. The jazz pushed their Lead to 21-8 on Edwards 20-footer Midway through the first period but Portland a running game brought the blazers Back. Buck Williams 8 Points sparked a 16-6 spurt that closed the Gap to 27-24. With Portland trailing 33-30, Drexler opened the second Quarter with a slicing drive to the Basket that Cut Utah a Lead to a single Point. The two teams then exchanged runs Utah building a 48-38 Lead with 5 29 left in the half with a 15-6 spurt featuring two baskets each by Edwards and Jeff Malone. Portland countered  13-6 run with Kersey and Kevin Duckworth each hitting a pair of Field goals closing the blazers to 54-51 at the 2 16 Mark. Corbin gave the jazz a 59-53 Edge with his shot from the Corner but porters Layup at the Buzzer trimmed Utah a advantage to four at halftime. Aba playoffs penguins Lemieux Tri Stanley cup finals by Ken Rappoport put Burgh apr the big Man scored the big goals again for the Pittsburgh penguins. Mario Lemieux who has made the 1992 Stanley cup playoffs his personal showcase scored his 14th and 15th goals of the postseason tournament thursday night to Lead Pittsburgh to a 3-1 Victory Over the Chicago Blackhawk. The Victory gives Pittsburgh the defending Stanley cup Champion a 2-0 Lead in the Best of seven series. Lemieux who has scored five game winning goals despite missing six of Pittsburgh a 19 playoff games with a hand injury broke a 1-1 tie with a Power play goal at 12 55 of the second period. For Good measure the 6-foot-3 Center clinched it with another goal at 15 23. A we have to come up with some tactic to Stop Lemieux a Chicago coach Mike Keenan said. A the cashed in again tonight. A a he a a great offensive player and we never expected to completely keep him off the Board. Well have to design a better game plan for game 3 in  the Way goaltender Tom Barrasso and the Pittsburgh defense played that Sall the goals the penguins needed to win their ninth straight playoff game. The teams will meet in games 3 and 4 at Chicago on sat urday and monday. A fifth game if necessary will be played in Pittsburgh on wednesday. Lemieux the no la a leading scorer during the regular season despite missing about a fourth of the games with injuries was never in better form than on thursday night. On both scoring occasions the Blackhawk made the mistake of leaving him open and Lemieux beat Chicago goaltender de Belfour twice after some Nice setups by Lin mate Rick Tocchet. On both of Lemieux a goals Tocchet dug the puck off the right boards and fed his illustrious teammate who had been a cause celebre earlier in the playoffs. Lemieux missed six games and most of a seventh when his left hand was broken when he was slashed by the new York rangers Adam Graves in the second round of the Patrick division playoffs. Graves was suspended for the rest of the series. Lemieux was expected to be lost for at least a month but came Back sooner than expected in the Wales conference final against Boston and helped the penguins to a 4-0 sweep of the Bruins. Thanks to a Quick Pittsburgh defense Barrasso Only had to face 19 shots thursday night and was steady throughout allowing Only a second period goal to Brian  Bob erred had a first period goal for the penguins. For the second straight game the penguins kept the Black Hawks big guns off the Board. Jeremy Roenick who led the team with 53 goals and had 10 More in the first three rounds of the playoffs had limited playing time and no shots. Steve Larmer a 40-goal scorer managed Only three shots As the Blackhawk lost their second straight after a record 11-game playoff winning str ski the penguins who fell behind 3-0 in the first game got the Early jump this time on a great individual Effort by erred Midway through the first period. With the penguins playing shorthanded defens Eman Jim Paek took the puck off the boards and fed erred a breakout pass. Erred who just got Back into action on i tuesday night after missing six games with a shoulder injury streaked Down ice with Michel Goulet and Igor Kravchuk in Pursuit. Erred was a step or two in front of two Blackhawk when he swept a backhand shot that caught the Post and bounced Over the goal line past Belfour at 9 52. The penguins took that 1-0 Lead into the locker room Atter the first period thanks to some Sharp goal ending by Barrasso who preserved the Lead when he stored Dirk Graham on a breakaway shot with 29 seconds left. Graham had stripped the puck from Jaromir jagr to set up the play