NBA Notes : Higgins Sets Record for Getting Around

Rod Higgins officially became the most-traveled player in a single NBA season this week when he joined the Chicago Bulls, the fourth team he has played for in 1985-86.

Higgins, a 6-foot-7 forward, played his first three years for Chicago, but he was released before the season started. He later played 11 games for Seattle from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13, 10 games for San Antonio from Jan. 15 to Feb. 1 and two games for New Jersey on Feb. 22 and Feb. 25 before returning to the Bulls.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no one else besides Higgins has played for four teams in one season. Last year, however, Chris Engler played for New Jersey, Chicago and Milwaukee and was on the roster of the Clippers without appearing in a game.

You need only to look as far as the cover of the New York Knicks’ 1985-86 media guide to see what kind of a year it’s been.

All four players on the cover--Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Bill Cartwright and Pat Cummings--are on the sidelines and will undergo physical rehabilitation this summer. Ewing and King have knee problems, Cummings is recovering from ankle surgery and Cartwright has played two games in two seasons because of foot fractures.

Chicago rookie Charles Oakley’s 18 offensive rebounds March 15 against Milwaukee was the third highest since the NBA started compiling that statistic in the 1973-74 season.

While with the Houston Rockets, Moses Malone had 21 offensive rebounds against Seattle on Feb. 11, 1982 and 19 against New Orleans on Feb. 9, 1979. On two other occasions, in 1977 and 1979, Malone had 16 offensive rebounds, and Walt Bellamy of Atlanta had 16 against Buffalo in 1973.

Not surprisingly, the Detroit Pistons’ turnaround from a 21-23 record on Jan. 25 to a 40-27 mark was led by Isiah Thomas and Kelly Tripucka.

Tripucka’s scoring average slipped to 16.6, lowest of his career, during the team’s slide, but it’s almost 20.0 now after he scored at a 25-point pace in February.

Thomas’ ups-and-downs haven’t been as severe as Tripucka’s, but a recent surge has lifted him higher among the league’s scoring leaders. He averaged more than 24 points per game in February.

Atlanta Coach Mike Fratello said owner Ted Turner set the team goal of making the playoffs this season, and it took the Hawks only 65 games of the 82-game to clinch a postseason spot.

“It wasn’t an impossible thing for him to want,” said Fratello, whose team finished out of the playoffs with a 34-48 record last season. “We expected improvement, so if you win a few more than 34 you can expect to be in the playoffs. But it put the coaching staff on the spot. It put Stan (General Manager Stan Kasten) on the spot. We had to produce.”

“We had to win,” Kasten said. “We had to win, and we had to be exciting. And exciting had to be a close second if we were to win back the fans.”

With Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb on the roster, the Hawks, drawing almost 2,000 additional fans per game compared to last season, are winning on every front.

Golden State Coach John Bach draws this analogy to playing the Celtics in Boston Garden:

“It’s like a highway in England 200 years ago. Everyone on the road is waiting to take something away from you.”