When it comes to volcanic eruptions in the Pacific Northwest, Mount St. Helens takes a back seat to Rasheed Wallace.

The NBA's unabashed leader in technical fouls and ejection the past 2 1/2 seasons erupted again on Saturday afternoon as the Jazz beat his Portland Trail Blazers 97-96 at the Delta Center.

 
But Wallace's outburst only served as the undercard to the game itself, an exciting affair where both teams played well and fought hard all afternoon.

"It was a great game," said Bonzi Wells, who led Portland with 24 points. "It was real physical. They let us play tonight kind of like old-school ball, real aggressive out there."

Neither side was able to build a double-figure lead at any point in the game, which remained in doubt until the final play.

In fact, Portland coach Maurice Cheeks and captain Scottie Pippen were still going strong a minute after the game ended, haranguing the officials at midcourt, insisting the Blazers should have had about five more seconds to try to win the game.

In a wild final minute in which Portland recaptured the lead and Utah got it back, Pippen sank a 3-pointer with six seconds left to cut Utah"s lead to one.

The Jazz quickly inbounded the ball to John Stockton and the Blazers felt they fouled him -- meaning free throws for the Jazz guard and another possession for Portland -- but Stockton broke free from the defenders, got the ball to Scott Padgett, and Utah ran out the clock without a whistle ever blowing.

"I just got the ball and took off," Stockton said. "I don"t know if I got hit or not."