Arroyo to the rescue

PORTLAND, Ore. — By trading away one bad apple after another since the season began — first Bonzi Wells, then Jeff McInnis, and now, finally, resident rogue Rasheed Wallace — the Portland Trail Blazers clearly are sending a message.

At least billionaire owner and Microsoft co-owner Paul Allen sure feels that way.

"I hope the fans," Allen said Tuesday night, 24 hours after a blockbuster five-player trade that sent the volatile Wallace and sharpshooter Wesley Person to Atlanta for good guys Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratliff and Dan Dickau, "see what we're trying to do."

While the Blazers work to get their own house in order, however, the Jazz did some cleaning of their own.

Utah beat Portland 86-81 Tuesday night at the Rose Garden, wiping away the stain of a loss to these same Trail Blazers — plus Wallace and Person — just four nights earlier at the Delta Center.

The Jazz did it chiefly behind the play of starting point guard Carlos Arroyo, who scored 20 points and took control down the stretch; All-Star forward Andrei Kirilenko, who got his act together in the second half en route to matching Arroyo's team-high 20; and starting shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who got hot in the third quarter.

Arroyo re-entered in relief of backup Raul Lopez with four minutes and nine seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the Jazz ahead by two, 68-66.

Coming out of a timeout, Kirilenko hit a 3-pointer that put Utah up 71-66.

After Portland tied it with a baseline jumper by Darius Miles and a trey from Damon Stoudamire, Arroyo took over, single-handedly outscoring the Blazers 14-10 in the final 2:41.

In an span of just more than minute, he blew past Stoudamire for a layup, hit an 18-foot jumper that gave Utah the lead for good at 75-73 with 2:03 left, then knocked down two free throws to make it 77-73 Jazz.

Utah led by two or more the rest of the way, primarily behind another 6-of-6 from the free-throw line by Arroyo.

"He had a tremendous finish," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said of Arroyo, "and that was important to us to be able to finish the ballgame."

It wasn't without some encouragement, however.

The Blazers — playing without Abdur-Rahim, Ratliff and Dickau, who didn't arrive in time to play in Tuesday night's game — had the upper hand early on.