Jordan Scores 40, Treats 15,371 at Sports Arena to Grand Slam Finale

A sellout crowd of 15,371 flocked to the Sports Arena Thursday night with expectations running higher than Michael Jordan can fly.

They came, not to see the Clippers lose yet another game--which they did, 114-97, to the Chicago Bulls. That was inconsequential. They came to see the Bulls’ superstar thrill them and chill them--which he did.

And like all great entertainers, he worked his audience. He started slow. He teased them with a running reverse that kissed off the glass, a spinning shot that he flipped up and in . . . and, finally, he treated them to the grand finale.

With just under three minutes left to play, the Bulls came out of a timeout with a beauty of a play. Gene Banks batted a tip long and hard from one end of the court to the other, leading Jordan toward the Bulls’ basket. He had the ball, he was all alone, and the crowd started cheering even before he left the floor.

As he floated toward the basket, leaning in with his left shoulder, he held the ball up as if he would let fly with a gentle hook shot. But as he neared the hoop, he slammed it home.

The crowd loved it. Michael Jordan smiled. And the Bulls had an 18-point lead.

It was worth waiting for. The fans who had lined up around the Sports Arena to buy the last of the tickets to see the NBA’s leading scorer could go home happy.

They were still buzzing about his only dunk of the game when he followed up with a three-point shot to finish with 40 points.

When Jordan left the game, with 51 seconds to play, the fans headed for the exits.

Jordan called his dunk “just one of many.” But he added, “That’s the one I did in the dunk contest (at the NBA All-Star game) . . .

“Gene had to get a good jump, and he really laid a nice tip out there for me. I had a clear runway, and once I get in the air, that’s when the creativity takes over.

“I can’t sit there and decide what I’m going to do. There are too many. I can’t go through the file every time. I just get up there and do it.”

By that point in the game, the Bulls had it pretty well wrapped up. They had been struggling on this road trip, losing three on the road to run their losing streak to six straight games.

Against the Clippers, though, they started feeling a lot better as they evened their record at 33-33. As Jordan put it, “We stopped the bleeding.”

For the Clippers, who are still bleeding, it was the same old story. The Clippers’ record dropped to 11-53.

Clipper Rory White, primarily, and Lancaster Gordon and a little bit of everyone else, did a pretty good job of keeping Jordan in check.

The Bulls led, 53-46, at halftime, with no super heroics from Jordan, who at that point had just 16 points.

In the early minutes of the game it seemed that it might be the Clippers’ much-maligned center, Benoit Benjamin, who might steal the show--and Benjamin had been booed onto his own court.

Benjamin had 10 points, the Clippers led, 11-10, and Jordan had yet to take a shot.

Of course, that odd scenario was meant to change. The Bulls soon had Benjamin in check and Jordan was picking up steam.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, Jordan hurts you just as much when he’s not scoring. Bulls Coach Doug Collins said: “I keep explaining to my team over and over . . . teams are paying such a price now to stop Michael that they’re running across the court doubling and tripling him. That leaves Banks open for the layup, or (Charles) Oakley or (Dave) Corzine or (Jim) Paxson are getting open.

“Michael will still find a way to get his.”

Collins said that he knew the Good Lord was watching over the Bulls’ when Paxson’s three-pointer was good. Paxson beat the 24-second clock with a long three-point shot that put the Bulls up, 90-77.

Until then the Bulls had been playing with seven-point and eight-point leads most of the way, with neither team ever taking control.

It was in the wake of Paxson’s breakaway shot that Jordon made his spinning move to the basket and got the crowd chanting for him.

The crowd included Jack Nicholson, Timothy Hutton and Debra Winger. Jordan liked that. He said, “When you see Jack Nicklaus (sic) come out, you know it’s a big game.”

Notes The Clippers had not had a sellout since March 15, 1985, in a game against the Lakers. . . . The victory over the Clippers was the Bulls’ ninth victory on the road topped last season’s total of eight. . . . Quintin Dailey, who had missed the game against Portland Tuesday with a stomach ailment was back, coming off the bench to play 27 minutes. . . . The Clippers will play tonight at Houston, going in with a three-game losing streak. The game against the Rockets will be televised on Channel 5 at 5:30 p.m.