Energy for the Portland Trail Blazers comes in the form of a 6-foot-9, 254-pound man with dreadlocks hanging out of the back of a head band, and complete intensity for every minute he's on the floor.

Brian Grant had everything to do with why the Blazers blew out the Utah Jazz late in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. If he wasn't maneuvering his legs for leverage against Karl Malone, he was hitting the boards hard for rebounds or diving out of bounds to save loose balls.

"In the second half (in particular), I made a conscious effort to do what I'm supposed to do within the confines of the team," Grant said. "That's to get after loose balls, and if I get the opportunity, post deep. And if not, just do anything I can to get us the ball. Nine times out of 10, if we do what we're supposed to do, we win."

For a guy who was 2-for-10 from the field and had just 7 points, those 10 rebounds in 23 minutes jumped out as much as any statistic in the Blazers 94-75 victory. Since the Blazers knocked out the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday, and had five days off, it was particularly difficult for the aging Jazz, who barely pulled out Game 5 Friday night against Seattle, to come back less than 48 hours later in Portland. That's why an energy guy like Grant would stand out.

"We felt sorry for ourselves," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I'll tell you right now we didn't come to play today. They had 24 hours to sleep. That's their own fault if they weren't ready. Last week we had too many days off between games ... I don't care. They get paid to perform."

As usual, Malone came to play, pouring in 22 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, despite a fluke sprained meniscus in his right knee. Considering he has missed only six games in his 16-year NBA career, it was too weird to see him hobble to the locker room from the bench as teammate Armen Gilliam came off the floor attempting to save a ball from going out of bounds. He landed slightly on Malone, who caught his foot while attempting to get out of the way.

"It's fine and I played," Malone said. "And that's all that matters."

Not exactly, particularly when you consider that Malone is going to be much more uncomfortable come Monday morning while they prepare for Tuesday's Game 2. They looked rather old and feeble against a team with athletes who are younger and bigger than the Jazz. Then again, the Blazers now have won four of the five meetings between the two teams, so it should come as no surprise.

"Every game we play them, it's close into the third quarter -- just like it was today -- and then they pull away," Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said. "They are a tough matchup for us because they're so athletic and big."

The game was funky early because Sloan was fed up with his starters, so he stuck with his bench of Jacque Vaughn, Quincy Lewis, Gilliam and Greg Ostertag for the better part of the second quarter. The Blazers had some early free throw problems, too, making just eight of 14, while allowing the Jazz to hang around. The bench players led a charge of rebounding that knocked the Blazers around 24-16 before intermission.

That was one aspect of the game Grant would not allow to continue. He grabbed six of his 10 rebounds in the second half and Arvydas Sabonis had 10 of his 14 in the final two quarters, as the Blazers took over the boards in the second half.

But the game was actually decided in the final 36 seconds of the third period. With Utah down 65-61, John Stockton went to the line with three free throw attempts, making the first and missing the next two. Gilliam then missed two more with 13 seconds left in the quarter. The Jazz was never that close again.

John Stockton lowers his head and runs into a stubborn Rasheed Wallace.(AP)

"All we did was hang around," Sloan said sarcastically. "It's a four-point ballgame and we miss four free throws in a row. We're just hanging around and they went after it. That's why they shot so many more free throws. They deserved to win."

After early woes, the Blazers made 22 free throws in a row before finishing the game 34-of-41 from the foul line compared to 16-of-23 for Utah. Six Blazers, led by Scottie Pippen with 20 points, finished in double-figures. Stockton's 10 and 11 from Vaughn accounted for what could be referred to as significant scoring for the Jazz outside of Malone.

Down the stretch, led by Pippen and Greg Anthony offensively and Grant on defense, the Blazers finished the game on a 23-10 run to blow it open.

"We really consider defense the backbone of our team and we didn't really get a feel for what they were doing the first three quarters," Pippen said. "In the final quarter, we had a better feel for their plays and execution."

What helped even more was Grant coming up with seemingly every loose ball and stray rebound that mattered most.

"I went out there early and tried to force too much stuff," Grant said, lamenting his poor shooting and sloppy ball-handling. "That obviously wasn't too successful, so I just relaxed and let things come to me. My job is to give us energy."

In the natural form. No inhalants are required.