PORTLAND, Ore. -- This was a madhouse, certainly an anomaly for a place named the Rose Garden.

But there is no other way to describe the final minute of the conclusive 81-79 victory that belonged to the Portland Trail Blazers, closing out their Western Conference semifinals series with the indomitable Utah Jazz.

"All I can say is, how they play ... how hard they play ... I use that as a model for how I want my team to play," Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy said of the Jazz.

And it came down to Bryon Russell -- who battered the Blazers all night with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals -- missing two free throws with three seconds left, then failing to get off a clean 3-pointer on the final play of the game when Blazers forward Rasheed Wallace made contact with him but did not foul him.

Both plays were controversial. With the free throws, Russell claimed a fan was causing the basket to shake. However, both attempts were short anyway.

"Someone was jumping up and down on the basket support," Russell said. "People will see it on (TV) tonight. I thought I'd get another shot."

The whole thought of another free throw drew chuckles from both Wallace and Scottie Pippen, who collaborated on the last seven points for the Blazers in the final 36.6 seconds of the game. The key was clearly Pippen, who fed Wallace for a 15-footer on the baseline to pull the Blazers to within 79-77, then, after grabbing the rebound of an errant John Stockton 3-point attempt, called timeout with 12.6 seconds left.

He inbounded the ball to Damon Stoudamire, then got it right back, and was looking for Wallace. The Jazz anticipated that, so Pippen responded by nailing a 3-pointer to give the Blazers an 80-79 lead, their first advantage since midway through the second quarter.

"I really didn't want to go with that option," Pippen said. "But they played it pretty good and Russell dropped into the passing lane. I just looked for the shot."

But Stockton being Stockton -- the most prolific playmaker in NBA history -- he took the inbounds pass with 7.3 seconds from Russell and penetrated deep enough to get the ball to Russell, who trailed him down the other side of the lane. Detlef Schrempf had no choice but to foul Russell, who was right at the rim. Then came the errant foul shots.

"We have to get over it," Russell said. "We have an early summer."

Pippen got the rebounds and made 1-of-2, that set up Russell to let fly a 30-footer at the buzzer with Wallace in his face.

"Did you see the game? I was looking right at it and Bryon Russell got fouled," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "But we've been in that situation before and it depends on who is shooting."

Maybe if it had been Karl Malone, who was brilliant with 27 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, a foul would have been called. Then again, it was a strangely officiated game anyway, erratic from the opening tip.

Moreover, what we saw was a Portland team that looked tight and didn't play very well, much as it did in Salt Lake City in Game 4 after playing brilliantly to take an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the series.

"Overall, we didn't play very well," Dunleavy said. "Our emotions were high ... we made some bad decisions both in the open court, and in our execution of our halfcourt offense ... partly because of how well they played and how well they defended us."

The brilliance of the Jazz was never more apparent than in the second quarter after they fell behind by four and Sloan called a timeout with 7:25 left in the half. Defensively, they just packed it inside, leaving the tight Blazers to stare at wide-open 3-pointers and a variety of other unchallenged long-range shots.

It was as if bells were ringing at the Rose Garden with all the clanging going on. Right on cue, the Blazers fans began to boo in harmony. Six 3-pointers caromed off the rim in as many different directions as the boos that echoed throughout the Rose Garden. Russell countered with a pair of 3s and another wide-open jumper from the top of the key and an 18-footer for 10 points in the final 5:21. Consequently, the Jazz took a 41-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Life with the Jazz grew worse for the Blazers as the third quarter unfolded. Wallace came down awkwardly on a layup in the first minute of the half and hobbled to the locker room with a bruised quad as Utah extended the lead to nine. Malone, Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, who discussed his retirement after the game, all contributed to the advantage.

Scottie Pippen sinks the game-winning 3-point basket with 7.3 seconds remaining.(AP)

It was as if the Blazers had their accelerator pedal stuck to the floor and couldn't slow down enough to execute simple basketball plays. Time after time, they forced the ball on offense while the Jazz coolly, methodically scored with a mélange of jumpers and cuts ... just as they always have.

"We sort of played right into their hands," Pippen said. "We talked about pounding the ball inside, and finally we did."

The ball went through Arvydas Sabonis, Wallace, Brian Grant, and Schrempf. Ultimately, though, it came down to Pippen, with six championship rings from the Chicago Bulls already at home, and the desire to earn another without the benefit of being Michael Jordan's sidekick. His 23 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals more than filled out the boxscore.

"You have got to have guys who want to take the shot and make the shot," Dunleavy said. "He made the shot on the final play and he made the pass on the next to last play to Rasheed. That's why we got him."

Next stop: the Western Conference finals beginning Saturday in Los Angeles against the Lakers and Phil Jackson, Pippen's former coach. The ironies never stop.