Jazz lead Blazers at halftime in regular-season finale

SALT LAKE CITY — In a somewhat meaningless regular-season finale, rookie guard Alec Burks hit a long jumper with 1.8 seconds left in the first half to give the Utah Jazz a 47-40 halftime lead over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

With the Jazz preparing for their first-round NBA playoff series, which starts Sunday at San Antonio, Paul Millsap sat out the entire first half, and most of Utah's other starters played a majority of the first quarter, then turned the second quarter over to the reserves.

Burks topped Utah's scoring with nine first-half points, while Derrick Favors added eight points with five rebounds. No other Jazzman scored more than five first-half points.

Portland, long since eliminated from playoff contention and missing injured leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge, was led by J.J. Hickson with 10 points and seven rebounds, followed by former Jazzman Wesley Matthews with eight points, Jonny Flynn with seven points and six assists and Craig Smith with seven points.

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