NBA Roundup : Windy City Is No Help to Washington Playoff Hopes

If the Washington Bullets fail to qualify for the playoffs, they would have a reason to blame the Windy City.

No, it wouldn’t be the fault of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The blame would be on the wind that blew so hard at Chicago’s Midway Airport that no planes could take off.

As a result, the Bullets spent seven hours riding a bus to Richfield, Ohio for their important game Wednesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Bullets wore down in the second half, and with Mark Price scoring 15 of his 20 points after intermission, the Cavaliers ended the Bullets’ three-game winning streak, 98-87.

The weary Bullets, who had won a big game from the Bulls Tuesday night at Chicago, lost valuable ground in their bid for a playoff spot.

There are five teams trying for the last three berths in the East. With this loss, the Bullets (33-40) are tied with New York for the eighth and final position. They are a half-game ahead of Philadelphia.

The Cavaliers (35-39) are in sixth place, while Indiana (34-38) is currently seventh.

Not only were the Bullets 45 minutes late for the game, they played without one of their stars, Jeff Malone, who has a sore back. The bus ride didn’t figure to do the high-scoring guard any good.

Of those who did play, Moses Malone appeared to be bothered the most. After a strong first half, the 33-year-old veteran of more than a 1,000 pro games simply wore out.

“We chartered the bus,” Coach Wes Unseld said, “because we were told that the high winds were not expected to subside until mid-afternoon.

“Every team has long days. We just tried to get the best out of it we could. Moses tried, but he just got tired.”

One of the Bullets least affected by the long day was Steve Colter, the replacement for Jeff Malone. He scored 29 points, nine of them in a late surge that fell short.

Dallas 119, Phoenix 93--The Mavericks, their once solid lead in the Midwest Division in jeopardy, needed a big game at Dallas.

They got one from guard Rolando Blackman, who scored a season-high 32 points, and the Mavericks ended a four-game losing streak.

The victory enabled the Mavericks to take a half-game lead over idle Denver in the battle for the division title.

The game was marred by a fight between the starting centers, James Donaldson of the Mavericks and Mark West of the Suns, with just under three minutes remaining. What started out as a battle of words soon turned into fisticuffs. Players of both teams joined in a tangle in the middle of the floor. Donaldson and West were ejected.

Chicago 119, Milwaukee 110--Michael Jordan scored 37 points, including four in a 13-0 spurt late in the third quarter at Milwaukee that turned the game around.

With 2:51 left in the third quarter, the Bucks led, 84-77. Before they scored again two minutes into the fourth quarter, Jordan and Horace Grant had given the Bulls a 90-84 lead.

Jordan scored 10 points in the fourth quarter as three Bucks--Jack Sikma, Paul Pressey and Terry Cummings--fouled out.

The third-place Bulls lead the Bucks by four games in the fight for third place in the Central Division.

In addition to his scoring, Jordan had six rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Seattle 114, Golden State 102--The SuperSonics, getting superb play from their bench, built an 18-point halftime lead at Seattle.

They needed it when Chris Mullin sank six baskets in a row, two of them three-pointers, but after getting the Warriors within six points, he missed.

It was the seventh loss in a row for the Warriors.

Sacramento 115, San Antonio 109--Harold Pressley scored a career-high 29 points, and the Kings snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Spurs at Sacramento.

Otis Thorpe added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings, while Alvin Robertson scored 23 points for San Antonio.