Trail Blazers Cut Spurs Off at Pass in Overtime : NBA playoffs: Strickland’s no-look lob finds no teammate. Instead, it helps send Portland to the Western Conference finals.

PORTLAND, Ore. —  It was a no-look, behind-the-head pass that had no chance of finding a San Antonio Spur. Even Rod Strickland admitted he had lost his head and did not want to look at the mistake that hastened the Spurs’ defeat that sent the Portland Trail Blazers to the Western Conference finals.

About 30 seconds remained in overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals with the score tied, 103-103. The Spurs were whipping passes around the perimeter, when Strickland thought he saw Sean Elliott breaking for the basket. Strickland flicked a two-hand pass directly over his head.

Problem was, Elliott had not moved. Trail Blazer forward Jerome Kersey had, and his alert--if risky--save of Strickland’s pass resulted in a four-point play that eventually gave Portland a 108-105 victory and a date with the Phoenix Suns in the conference finals.

This series had featured everything from fights to wars of words to outstanding individual performances, and Saturday’s seventh game was no exception.

Portland guard Terry Porter scored 36 points to offset 27 points by Spur forward Terry Cummings. Trail Blazer center Kevin Duckworth, out since May 1 with a broken right hand, provided an emotional lift by returning to the lineup. And, Spur center David Robinson, after a horrendous start, almost led a San Antonio comeback.

But Strickland’s gaffe may have magnified the small difference between these teams that battled for two weeks to decide which was better. San Antonio paid for risk-taking, and Portland cashed in.

Kersey could have let Strickland’s errant pass go out of bounds underneath the Spurs’ basket. Portland would have had the ball and a chance to take the lead. Instead, on impulse, he chased down the ball and flung it as far as he could. Teammate Clyde Drexler received the pass at the opposite free-throw line and, while driving for a breakaway layup, was fouled by Strickland.

A breakaway foul was assessed, giving Drexler two free throws and allowing Portland to retain the ball. Drexler sank both for a 105-103 lead with 26 seconds left, then was fouled and sank two more free throws with 16 seconds left for a 107-103 lead.

The Spurs rallied, but another bad pass did them in. San Antonio had cut Portland’s lead to 108-105 with five seconds left when seldom-used Reggie Williams’ inbounds pass was intercepted by Porter to preserve the victory for Portland, which will play host to the Suns in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.

After the buzzer, Porter celebrated the Trail Blazers’ first trip to the conference finals since 1977 by making a bad pass of his own--into the stands.

It took seven games and another overtime period for the Spurs’ inexperience to surface a final time and for Portland’s poise to take control for good.

When Larry Brown, the Spurs’ coach, said: “I’m proud of my kids ,” he may have hit on precisely why San Antonio lost the series. Had Strickland, in his second NBA season, attempted, say, a two-handed chest pass to Elliott--or, at least, first located his teammate--maybe the Spurs would have advanced.

“I made a bad decision,” Strickland said. “I did think somebody was cutting. In a situation like that, it was a bad play. What can you say? That’s how it is. If that play’s made, it’s a great play.”

The only great play, as it turned out, was made by Kersey. Instead of playing it safe and letting the ball go out of bounds, he seized the opportunity.

“I thought about letting it go,” Kersey said. “But (Spur) Willie Anderson was behind me, and I thought he might get it. And I saw Clyde and Terry up the court. I knew I wasn’t going to make the mistake of throwing it under the basket, so I threw it as far as I could.”

Drexler was not surprised. He said he was waiting for the ball.

“I almost just turned my back and walked up court because I assumed he might let the ball go,” Drexler said. “But I knew (Kersey’s) a hustler, so I kept alert.”

Again showing youthful judgment, Strickland shoved Drexler hard from behind, drawing a breakaway foul. Strickland disputed the call, saying he fouled Drexler from the side, in which case only a two-shot foul without the Trail Blazers’ retaining possession would have been called.

“But it doesn’t matter,” Strickland said. “It all goes back to the pass I made. It was a bad decision.”

Said Brown: “I think we’re the better team, frankly, but Portland is a great team. They will exploit that kind of situation when young teams make mistakes.”

The exploitation began in earnest after the Spurs took a 97-90 lead on Robinson’s tip-in with 2:32 to play in the fourth quarter. It would be their last points in regulation. They missed their final five shots, enabling Portland to tie the score after Duckworth’s jump shot, Drexler’s three-point shot and Kersey’s fast-break dunk.

Drexler had another poor shooting game--he had 22 points, hitting only eight of 22 shots--but he had 13 rebounds and made a clutch defensive play that gave Portland a chance to go to overtime.

With five seconds left in regulation, Porter missed a jump shot from the left baseline. David Wingate rebounded and passed to Anderson on a fast break. As Anderson drove to the basket with two seconds left, Drexler knocked the ball loose. Anderson could not recover. Overtime beckoned.

Once there, the Trail Blazers fed upon the Spurs’ inexperience and sent them home with a hard lesson learned.

“The Spurs will be back,” Kersey said. “They are the team of the future.”

That did not console Robinson, near tears in the locker room.

“Sometimes, guys take matters into their own hands, but you want guys with that confidence,” he said. “It’s nobody’s fault. As we grow together as a team we’ll advance beyond this.”

Saturday, though, it was the Trail Blazers’ time to advance.

Western Conference Notes

David Robinson made one of his first 11 shots Saturday. In the final 20 minutes, though, Robinson made six of 10 shots. He also had 16 rebounds. . . . Portland outrebounded San Antonio, 39-33. Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams each had 15 rebounds. . . . Kevin Duckworth, wearing a soft cast to protect his broken right hand, made three of 11 shots.