NBA Roundup : Seattle Forgets Bus Driver, Gets Run Over by Chicago

Seattle Coach Bernie Bickerstaff used several players against Michael Jordan Friday night in an effort to slow down the Chicago Bulls’ star. None were successful.

“We tried everybody but the bus driver,” Bickerstaff said after Jordan scored a game-high 45 points to lead the Bulls to a 106-98 victory over the SuperSonics at Chicago. “It’s very difficult to stop the great ones.”

Said Jordan: “I know Seattle was exhausted after playing a tough game in Milwaukee Thursday night.

“I also know it was especially tough for (Xavier) McDaniel to guard me, because he is not as quick, and he wanted me to shoot from the outside. It was not so difficult to drive to the basket and draw a lot of fouls.”

Jordan scored 12 points, and rookie Mike Brown contributed the other four during a 16-0 run over the final 5:36 of the game.

“The thing the Bulls do well is set a lot of picks,” McDaniel said. “The other thing about the Bulls is the other players do their job. That makes it easier for them as well as Michael.”

Jordan came out of the game with a bruised left wrist and a swollen right eye, but neither injury will cause him to miss a game.

“It’s been a bumps-and-bruises season for me so far, but it is not going to stop me from competing,” he said. “I just hope my whole career is not like this.”

Jordan scored 16 of his points in the final quarter to send the Supersonics to their fifth straight loss.

McDaniel led the SuperSonics with 27 points, and Tom Chambers had 26. Gene Banks had 18 points for the Bulls, who are 18-6 at home this season.

Boston 131, Portland 116--Kevin McHale scored 37 points and Danny Ainge added 26 as the Celtics rolled to an easy win at Portland.

Larry Bird scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists for Boston.

Portland, which lost its second straight game since the All-Star break, was led by Steve Johnson’s 25 points. Kiki Vandeweghe added 19 for the Blazers.

Phoenix 105, Utah 98--Larry Nance scored 26 points and blocked 6 shots as the Suns beat the Jazz at Phoenix.

Walter Davis added 17 points for the Suns. Kenny Gattison scored 12, and William Bedford had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Karl Malone led the Jazz with 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Darrell Griffith added 22 points off the bench. Mark Eaton also had six blocked shots for Utah.