Mullin’s Return: Good Show, No Win : Bannister, Smith Ejected in 121-114 Victory by Knicks

Chris Mullin had a mixed homecoming Tuesday night.

Mullin, the former St. John’s All America now playing with the Golden State Warriors, received a 1 1/2-minute ovation from a near capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden in his first pro game in New York, but considering what preceded and proceeded it, he might have been willing to pass it up.

Mullin’s younger brother, John, a 20-year-old sophomore guard-forward at the University of Bridgeport, was stricken with a ruptured appendix Monday and underwent emergency surgery at Long Island College Hospital early Tuesday morning.

Because of low blood pressure, John was listed as critical and on a respirator following surgery, and Chris barely slept.

Once the ovation was over, Chris suffered an uncharacteristically poor shooting night, and the Knicks won in overtime, 121-114.

“I thought he did a fine job, considering everything,” Warriors head coach John Bach said. “He got 11 points (on 3 of 10 shooting from the floor), and gave me 38 minutes. That’s not too shabby without much sleep and with a lot of worry. Plus, he was hounded for interviews all day.”

The Warriors fell despite 34 points from Purvis Short, and 17 rebounds and a TKO of Ken Bannister by Larry Smith.

The Knicks, almost forgotten in the Mullin homecoming, played one of their better games of the season after a slow start. Patrick Ewing had 29 points and 13 rebounds, but the New York star was Fred Cofield, who played 19 minutes and a career-high 13 points, including a 3-point shot from near midcourt.

“He always works 100%, but he’s the fifth guard, and it’s been hard for him to get playing time,” Knicks Coach Hubie Brown said of Cofield. “He came in under pressure and moved the ball well.”

The game was brutally physical, and Warriors center Joe Barry Carroll left the game with a jaw injury, the result of Sparrow’s elbow midway through the fourth quarter.

With 1:03 left in regulation, 6-9, 240 Bannister and 6-4, 205 Smith squared off at midcourt, and crammed more than 20 punches into a minute-long slugfest. Bannister scored early, but Smith knocked him down with an overhand right counterpunch. Both were ejected.

Ewing’s free throw knotted the score 106-106 with 8 seconds remaining in regulation.

In overtime, Ewing’s 3-point play at start of overtime gave the Knicks the lead for good.

Mullin, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native and Golden State’s No. 1 draft choice, made no excuses.

“I wasn’t jittery tonight at all,” he said. “This must be my zillionth basketball game. I just didn’t shoot well, that’s all. The ovation was good, I wish I could have put on a better show.

“You try to block out everything, but it doesn’t always work,” he said of his brother’s condition.