FOUL MOOD : Officials Blow Whistle on Atlanta, but Hawks Throw Rule Book Back

Cliff Levingston became the first player in recent memory to foul into a National Basketball Assn. game.

After leaving 28 seconds earlier, the Atlanta forward returned with seven seconds left in the Utah Jazz’s 109-105 overtime victory over the Hawks Wednesday night.

“It was a wild game,” Utah Coach Frank Layden said. “A lot of things happened I hadn’t seen before or hadn’t seen in a long time.”

Levingston returned because, without him, the Hawks had only four players left.

Under a seldom-used NBA rule, a team in Atlanta’s situation can retrieve the last player to foul out--in this case, Levingston--at the cost of a technical foul.

Already without injured Dominique Wilkins and Antoine Carr, the Hawks gradually lost manpower:

--With 2:38 left in the fourth quarter, Jon Koncak fouled out.

--With 3:36 to play in overtime, Kevin Willis fouled out.

--With 3:01 remaining in overtime, Scott Hastings fouled out.

--With 1:12 left in overtime, Spud Webb fouled out.

When Levingston followed them with 35 seconds left, Atlanta had only five players on the floor, and two of them had five fouls.

With seven seconds left and Utah leading, 106-102, Atlanta drew a technical foul for calling an illegal timeout. Guard Glenn Rivers was ejected for making a remark, creating another technical and leaving the Hawks with only four players.

That’s when Levingston returned--another technical.

When the game resumed, Utah’s Adrian Dantley shot the three technicals, making only one. In the remaining seconds, Levingston made a three-point play, not quite enough to give Atlanta the victory.

“It was like a 15-round heavyweight championship fight,” Utah’s Rickey Green said. “Bodies were flying everywhere. It was an aggressive game. The good thing about it is we came out on top. I didn’t notice they had fouled out so many people. They just kept running bodies in and out.”

Atlanta Coach Mike Fratello said: “We had no choice but to foul in the closing minutes.”

Despite the Utah victory, at least one Jazz fan in the crowd of 12,654 was less than pleased. He paraded with a sign that read: “Trade Layden.”

Said Layden: “I hope I’m traded to the Lakers or the Celtics or the Dodgers. And for a lot of money.”