Bradley’s 3-Pointer at Buzzer Caps Bullets’ 18-0 Comeback

In one of the most improbable finishes ever, Dudley Bradley banked in a 25-foot, three-point basket at the buzzer Friday night at Philadelphia to give the Washington Bullets an improbable 95-94 victory over the 76ers.

Although injured Moses Malone did not play, the 76ers, in the opening game of the best-of-five series, held a 94-77 lead with a little more than 3 1/2 minutes left. They did not score again, while the Bullets ran off 18 points.

It appeared the 76ers, despite turning stone cold, would eke out a victory when, with three seconds left, they led, 94-92, and Julius Erving, a 78.5% free throw shooter, was fouled.

Erving didn’t just miss two attempts, he completed a hat trick. On his second miss, the Bullets were guilty of a lane violation. It mattered not, Erving missed again.

The Bullets took time out to set up a try for a tying basket. Instead of one of their sharpshooters winding up with the ball, though, it was Bradley who took the shot. Although he was 17 for 68 on three-point tries, Bradley’s 34.9% average from the field during the regular season was the lowest in the NBA for players who were in at least 60 games. As time ran out, Bradley threw up his bomb and it caromed off the glass into the basket.

“I practice three-pointers a lot, and it sure paid off,” said the unlikely hero. “I was just looking to put up the shot because Doc (Erving) was hounding me.”

The Bullet coach, Kevin Loughery, seemed shocked by the finish. “To be honest,” he said, “we didn’t need a three-pointer, but I don’t mind it. I would have been happy getting the ball to Jeff Malone or Cliff Robinson to tie it, but I’ll take it.”

The astounding finish took some of the lustre off a tremendous performance by Charles Barkley, who, in the absence of Moses Malone, still out with a broken bone under his eye, took charge for the 76ers. He finished with 26 points, 22 rebounds and 9 assists.

Jeff Malone led the Bullets with 21 points, while Dan Roundfield had 20, including 9 in the 18-0 run.

“You can never give up in the playoffs,” Jeff Malone said. “Maybe in the regular season we would have, but not in the playoffs. Dudley is our best three-point shooter. He put it up and it was a dream shot.”

It was a close game most of the way. After three quarters, the 76ers led, 70-68. Then, the 76ers appeared to have put it away when Sedale Threatt scored 11 points in a 24-9 spurt that gave the 76ers a 94-77 lead with 3:49 left.

Roundfield started the winning rally with a three-point play, and Bradley contributed a three-point basket. When Roundfield put in a rebound basket with 35 seconds remaining, the Philadelphia lead was only two points.

The 76ers missed a shot 20 seconds later, but Terry Catledge, the rookie replacement at center for Moses Malone, came down with the offensive rebound. Then Erving was fouled and missed the three free throws.

Gus Williams inbounded the ball to Bradley after the timeout. Bradley, who missed both of his two-point tries during the evening, wheeled around Erving and threw up the bank shot that gave the Bullets a 1-0 edge in the series. The second game will be played at Philadelphia Sunday, and Moses Malone is again considered doubtful.

Philadelphia Coach Matt Guokas couldn’t explain what happened in those final minutes of his first playoff game as a coach.

“The bottom fell out with about 3 1/2 minutes remaining,” he told UPI. “We got tentative and came out of our momentum. We started to use up the clock, which got us out of our set offense. The momentum shifted to them, and we couldn’t get anything going. We paid the price for it.”

Dallas 101, Utah 93----The Jazz, another team missing its star player (Adrian Dantley), also hit a cold spell in the stretch to lose its opener at Dallas.

A basket by Bobby Hansen gave the Jazz a 93-93 tie with 4:38 remaining. A moment later, they had a chance to take the lead, but Mark Eaton missed a hook shot. Before the final gun sounded, Utah missed six more shots----a good indication of how much they missed their top scorer.

It took the Mavericks a minute to break the 93-93 tie. Mark Aguirre did it with a jumper, and as it turned out, that was all Dallas needed.

Rolando Blackman, who did not score in the first 18 minutes, led the Mavericks with 25 points.

Dallas scored only 16 points and made just 3 of 11 shots from the field in the fourth quarter but outscored the Jazz by two points.

Denver 133, Portland 126--Calvin Natt scored a career-high 40 points at Denver, and the Nuggets turned back repeated challenges by the Trail Blazers to win the opener.

The Nuggets led most of the way and built the lead to 120-105 midway through the fourth quarter. But Kiki Vandeweghe and Clyde Drexler led a determined rally that cut the margin to two points, 126-124, with more than a minute to play. Mike Evans and Alex English then got the Nuggets going again.

The second game of the best-of-five series will be played at Denver Sunday night.

Milwaukee 119, New Jersey 107--Craig Hodges scored 22 of his 25 points in the first half at Milwaukee, and Paul Pressey took charge in the second half to get the Bucks off to a winning start in the playoffs.

Pressey scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. The Bucks led, 86-84, after three quarters and broke the game open with a 10-2 spurt during which Pressey scored six points.