NBA Roundup : Jordan-less Bulls Are Beaten by Pistons, 122-105

With a new coach and a new attitude, the Chicago Bulls had high expectations this season. When they won their first three games, they were ecstatic.

There was praise for Coach Stan Albeck, a fellow who went to bat for his players, and everything was rosy. But in the second quarter of their third game, Michael Jordan, their meal ticket, hurt his foot.

The hurt turned out to be a broken bone, Jordan will be out at least six weeks, and the season may be lost before he returns.

As a replacement for Jordan, Albeck has the oldest starting guard in the NBA, George Gervin, 33. Albeck was hoping that Gervin, four times the scoring champion, could regain his skills long enough for Jordan to return.

Apparently, the Ice has melted. Gervin was only a shadow of his former self Wednesday night at Pontiac, Mich., and the Bulls’ record without Jordan dropped to 0-3.

The Bulls built a 17-point lead in the third quarter, but succumbed to the pressure of Isiah Thomas and the unexpected scoring of Earl Cureton, and the Detroit Pistons prevailed, 122-105.

Gervin scored only 11 points, making only five of 15 shots. It was Orlando Woolridge, with 37 points, who led the Bulls to their big lead, which was still 87-75 going into the last period.

Cureton scored 13 of his 16 points in the last 12 minutes, and Thomas, who had 23 points and 16 assists in the game, engineered the withering attack that made it appear the Pistons had gained an easy victory.

“I think we played a great game for 43 minutes,” said Albeck, who will give just-signed Ron Brewer a chance to fill in for Jordan. “They simply got away from us at the end. But you have to remember our guys haven’t played much together. I’m sure, even without Michael, we will be competitive.”

Although the Pistons improved their record to 5-2, Coach Chuck Daly wasn’t impressed.

“We’ve got to do a better job of playing for 48 minutes,” he said. “We’ve got to concentrate. I talked about it for two days, but evidently I wasn’t heard. We’re going to have to play tougher defensively.”

In the season opener between the two teams Oct. 26, the two coaches became involved in an altercation after the Pistons’ Bill Laimbeer manhandled Jordan. The irate Albeck actually gave Daly a push. This time there were no incidents.

Woolridge scored 30 points in the first three periods, but he and his mates couldn’t withstand the 47-point fourth quarter by the Pistons.

Portland 111, Dallas 109--Sam Bowie was overmatched by Houston’s Twin Towers of Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson Tuesday night, but not by the Maverick big men in this game at Dallas.

Bowie made a free throw to give the Trail Blazers a 111-109 lead with six seconds left, then saved the victory when he blocked Rolando Blackman’s driving layup at the buzzer.

The lead changed hands five times in the final three minutes before Bowie determined the final outcome.

Bowie wound up with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Blazers improved their record to 5-2.

Philadelphia 105, Indiana 97--Sedale Threatt scored 13 of his 17 points in the third quarter at Philadelphia as the 76ers battled from behind to beat the Pacers.

The Pacers, before losing their 17th consecutive road game, built a 12-point lead in the second period. However, they scored only 22 points in the third quarter and only 16 in the final 12 minutes.

Moses Malone scored 13 of his 21 points in the first quarter to keep the 76ers close. He also had 13 rebounds.

San Antonio 81, Washington 80--In a game at Landover, Md., that appeared to be one neither team wanted to win, Mike Mitchell hit a 13-foot jumper with 40 seconds remaining to win it for the Spurs.

It was a game that had poor shooting. The Spurs made 36 out of 80, and the Bullets were even worse, sinking only 33 of 78.

Atlanta 114, Phoenix 106--Dominique Wilkins scored 12 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter at Phoenix to hand the winless Suns their fourth defeat.

Georgi Glouchkov, the Suns’ rookie from Bulgaria, scored seven points in his NBA regular-season debut.

Golden State 105, Seattle 101--So much for training camp and the exhibition season. Rookie Chris Mullin and veteran Purvis Short led the Warriors to victory at Oakland just a few hours after both holdouts had signed contracts.

Short scored 24 points, 6 in the last three minutes, while Mullin, not expected to play, had 15, including a 13-foot baseline jumper with 19 seconds left to clinch the victory.

Short had 10 points in the last quarter, Mullin 8.