NBA Roundup : Cavaliers Stop Jordan, Bulls, 91-88

Coach Lenny Wilkens was guarding the secret more tenaciously than his Cavaliers guarded Michael Jordan.

The Cavaliers found a way to shut down Jordan in the second half and knocked off the Chicago Bulls, 91-88, in overtime Thursday night at Richfield, Ohio.

“We’ve got to play this team again, and everybody wants to know,” Wilkens said when asked about the Cavaliers’ defensive strategy. “We did try to help out each other. Michael’s a great player, and you don’t want to give him anything easy.”

Jordan made only 4 of 13 field goal attempts in the second half and overtime to finish with 28 points. Jordan, averaging 32.8 points, scored a season-high 52 points when the Bulls defeated Cleveland, 111-100, on Dec. 17.

Jordan made 1 of 2 free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation to tie the score, 82-82, and send the game to overtime. Jordan had a chance to the the score at the end of overtime, but his three-point attempt bounced out with three seconds left.

“After what happened the last time, I think they really made a conscious effort against me,” Jordan said. “They were helping each other a lot with some strong team defense.”

Baskets by Craig Ehlo, Brad Daugherty and Ron Harper put Cleveland ahead, 88-82, in overtime, but the Bulls rallied to within 89-88 on a layup by Brad Sellers with 2:08 left.

Ehlo sank two foul shots with five seconds remaining before Jordan narrowly missed.

Denver 115, Atlanta 112--T.R. Dunn sank two free throws with nine seconds left, and the Nuggets snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Hawks at Denver.

Atlanta, which never led, tied the score, 110-110, with 39 seconds to play on a rebound basket by Antoine Carr, who scored 21 points.

But Carr missed a free throw and Fat Lever connected on a jumper with 19 seconds left to give the Nuggets the lead for good.

Alex English scored 27 points, and Lever and Danny Schayes added 20 each for Denver. Dominique Wilkins scored 34 points for the Hawks.

Houston 103, Portland 98--Allen Leavell scored 20 points and Akeem Olajuwon added 17 points and 10 rebounds to power the Rockets past the Trail Blazers at Houston.

Leavell, who made 12 straight free throws to push his consecutive streak to 29, made 4 free throws in the final 40 seconds to hold off the Trail Blazers.

Clyde Drexler scored 25, and Terry Porter added 21 for Portland.

New Jersey 90, Sacramento 87--Buck Williams scored 21 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the Nets to victory over the Kings at East Rutherford, N.J.

Sacramento held the New Jersey scoreless during a four-minute stretch in the final period to pull within 86-84, but John Bagley hit a basket and Pearl Washington sank two free throws to clinch the victory.

Reggie Theus scored 10 of the Kings’ final 14 points and finished with 20.

Washington 136, Milwaukee 107--Moses Malone scored a season-high 36 points and Bernard King added 25 as the Bullets improved their record under new Coach Wes Unseld to 3-1 by routing the Bucks at Landover, Md.