NBA PLAYOFFS : Trail Blazers Pass Yet Another Test : Western Conference: Utah extends Portland but can’t win in Game 1.

PORTLAND, Ore. — This was not the month for two-pack-a-day Blazermaniacs to try to quit smoking. Too much tension. Too many tests.

Pushed in the first round, pushed in the first three quarters of the first game of the second round, the Portland Trail Blazers faced the possibility of a deficit in the Western Conference semifinals. But Seattle couldn’t stump them when it mattered in the first round last week, and Utah couldn’t Tuesday night, though it hung tough for nearly three quarters before being flicked aside, 117-97, in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal playoff at Memorial Coliseum. Game 2 is here Thursday.

“It’s something we learned in the beginning of last season,” said Buck Williams, who made seven of 11 attempts en route to 14 points and also played a major role in limiting Utah’s Karl Malone to eight-of-24 shooting. “It’s something we worked on in the playoffs. That’s where teams are molded, the playoffs.

“Normally, we’ve been able to answer the challenges. This team has a lot of heart and a lot of will. That’s why we’ve been so successful last year and this year. It’s a gut check.”

The Jazz was within three points with four minutes to play in the third quarter but spent the rest of the game looking futilely for its own heart.

“We went through a period where no one wanted to take control,” is how Malone put it.

Actually, though, that was no different than the entire game.

The Jazz hardly topped out in the first half, but they had to be happy going into intermission down only 58-53 despite shooting 41.3% (19 of 46). Portland was close to tearing the game open on several occasions but could never push the lead beyond nine points.

The last time that happened in the first half came at 50-41. But Utah, playing on four days’ rest compared to one for the Trail Blazers, rallied to get as close as 56-53 with 36 seconds left. Portland did its part by scoring only eight points the final 4:22 of the quarter, getting field goals on only two of the nine possessions.

Close as it was, the Jazz was left to send out search parties. Malone had 17 points at halftime, but the four other starters were a combined seven of 23 from the field the first two quarters. John Stockton offset his two-for-eight shooting with nine assists against only one turnover.

And when Stockton opened the second half with two free throws and a layup, the deficit was 58-57. But the Trail Blazers slammed the door again, this time with force. A 16-7 run, capped by Clyde Drexler’s three-point jump shot, gave them the first double-digit cushion of the night, 78-68, and prompted a Utah timeout.

“That seemed to really spark us,” Portland Coach Rick Adelman said of Drexler’s three-point goal. “And the crowd was going wild. I think that ignited us.”

Answers apparently didn’t come quickly in Utah’s huddle. Portland had pushed its advantage to 82-69 heading into the fourth quarter. Fittingly, the final two Trail Blazer baskets came off offensive rebounds. They outscored the Jazz, 28-7, in second-chance points.

Portland had all its signature moves back, rebounding and scoring. Drexler got a career-playoff-high 15 rebounds to go with his 20 points and eight assists, and Jerome Kersey adding 13 rebounds. The Trail Blazers had their most points to date in the postseason.

Stockton finished with 23 points and 16 assists. But Malone’s 21 was more like a long skid mark, the league’s No. 2 scorer having gone one for 11 in the second half.