The NBA / Chris Baker : Air Jordan Shines on a Night With Stars

Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is probably going to win the National Basketball Assn. scoring title, but he said he won’t be disappointed if he isn’t named the league’s Most Valuable Player.

“I’d love to win it. Who wouldn’t?” Jordan said. “I think my team has progressed quite a bit. And I think I’ve had an exceptional year, not just offensively, but defensively.

“But if I don’t win it, I won’t be disappointed. I think I have progressed as a player. If I don’t win it, I have many years left.

“Magic (Johnson) and (Kevin) McHale are having great seasons.”

The stars were out in full force last week when Air Jordan landed at the Sports Arena to play the Clippers.

And Jordan didn’t disappoint the Clippers’ first sellout crowd in two seasons, scoring 40 points, including a spectacular dunk late in the game.

Actor Timothy Hutton and his wife, actress Debra Winger, watched the game from court-side seats.

In fact, Jordan dedicated his fourth-period dunk to Hutton, who visited the locker room after the game.

“Tim and I are best of friends,” Jordan joked. “Actually, I met him for the first time today.”

Jack Nicholson, who has Clipper season tickets next to the visitors’ bench but rarely uses them, also came out to watch Air Jordan.

O.J. Simpson, USC basketball Coach George Raveling and UCLA basketball Coach Walt Hazzard also were at the game.

Raveling said he went shopping for clothes with Jordan in Beverly Hills before the game.

“I didn’t buy anything,” Raveling said. “Michael’s in another league.”

Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks was booed by New York fans for the first time in his pro career during a 133-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets last week at Madison Square Garden.

In fact, Ewing was booed on the very night the Knicks distributed life-size color posters of Ewing to fans.

Ewing scored just 11 points, making 4 of 12 shots, and had 3 rebounds and 3 turnovers.

One fan tore up his poster and threw the pieces at Ewing.

“I told (Ewing), ‘You know how it is in New York--you can’t please everybody,’ ” former Knick Darrell Walker told Newsday. “New York is a tough place to play in. They were kind of brutal. I was shocked.”

Said Ewing: “I’m human. I’m going to have off nights. I don’t know if I’d react the way they did. We want to win, too, but we’re not doing anything crazy, like they do.”

Ewing will be spared any more booing. He strained a ligament in his left knee last Thursday and will miss the rest of the season.

Bill Walton, who was reactivated by the Boston Celtics two weeks ago, re-injured his right ankle last weekend and is doubtful for tonight’s game against Cleveland at Hartford, Conn.

However, Walton and Celtic officials say that injury isn’t as serious as the one that sidelined him earlier this season.

Add Celtics: Larry Bird has scored 40 and 42 points in his last two games, the first time in his NBA career that he scored 40 or more points in consecutive games.

Rookie center William Bedford of the Phoenix Suns, who missed the first 14 games of the regular season after undergoing knee surgery last October, was back on the injured list Monday.

Bedford, was averaging 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds this season but had not been playing much recently.

Bedford was embarrassed by Kevin Duckworth, the Portland Trail Blazers’ plodding backup center, in a game last week. Duckworth drove around Bedford several times.