NBA Roundup : Miami Is 0 for 16 After Loss, Breaks League Record

The other National Basketball Assn. teams are beginning to worry about the Miami Heat.

And it’s not because the expansion team is good. It isn’t, as demonstrated Saturday night when the Heat broke a record for most defeats at the start of a season--16.

What concerns the other teams is that eventually, the Heat will win. No one wants to be the answer to the trivia question: “Who was the first team to lose to the Heat?”

That was foremost on Michael Jordan’s mind at Chicago when he scored 38 points to lead the Bulls to a 111-88 victory over the outmanned Heat.

Now, Miami is in danger of breaking other records in futility. Next, is the most consecutive losses in a season--20 by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1973. The NBA recognizes the record for consecutive defeats of 24 by Cleveland. The Cavaliers’ losing streak began late in the 1981-82 season and ended early the next season.

“I didn’t want to be the first victim,” Jordan said. “As soon as the game ended last (Friday) night, I began to prepare for this one.

“I tried to impress upon my teammates that we had to be ready. It was a little scary when they pulled within 74-66 in the third quarter.”

Jordan was on the bench when the Heat closed the gap, but he scored 5 points in an 11-2 burst to break the game open at the start of the final period.

“The Heat have some good young players,” Jordan said. “One of these nights Miami is going to break the ice. I just didn’t want it to be tonight. I didn’t want to be the trivia question.”

Miami Coach Ron Rothstein said, “The pressure is off. I’m not embarrassed. It’s not easy. You want to be competitive. You want to win. But you’ve got to be realistic. We are a young team.”

Detroit 106, Philadelphia 100--After their tough game Friday night at Atlanta, the Pistons feared they would let down upon returning to Auburn Hills, Mich.

But Isiah Thomas, as he has so many times in the past, wouldn’t let the Pistons (16-4) lose. He scored 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, including 5 when the Pistons pulled away in the last 2 minutes.

The Pistons held Charles Barkley to 4 points in the first half, but he finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

“Isiah did what he had to do,” Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said after his team played for the fourth time in 5 nights. “He has an innate sense of what has to be done. Tonight he just took over.”

Cleveland 102, Dallas 98--The Cavaliers keep proving they aren’t a fluke. Their best-in-the-NBA defense held the Mavericks to 14 points in the fourth quarter at Dallas as they improved to 13-4, third best in the league.

The teams played evenly through 3 quarters, but the Cavaliers, behind Mark Price and John Williams, gained a 100-92 lead with fewer than 2 minutes left.

The Mavericks, with only 8 points in 10 minutes, put a scare into the Cavaliers when Rolando Blackman scored 6 straight points. Williams missed a jumper with 12 seconds left, but Price got the key rebound to save the victory.

“They did a heck of a job on defense, as good as I’ve seen this season,” said John MacLeod, the Dallas coach. “The Knicks were impressive, too. Both put a lot of pressure on you.”

Denver 133, Atlanta 130--Little Michael Adams put on another shooting exhibition at Atlanta, and the stunned Hawks lost their second straight home game after winning their first 8.

Adams scored 34 points in a shootout in which the Nuggets twice trailed by 14 points. Adams, who extended to 63 the number of consecutive games in which he has made a 3-point shot, kept rallying the Nuggets.

But, it was 4 free throws by sub Elston Turner in the last 26 minutes that clinched the victory.

Dominique Wilkins had 37 points, Reggie Theus 26 and Moses Malone 20, but there wasn’t enough other scoring for Atlanta to pull it out.

New York 124, Sacramento 111--Patrick Ewing and Mark Jackson are becoming an explosive duo for the Knicks.

New York trailed for more than 3 quarters, but Ewing and Jackson triggered a 15-2 spurt in the fourth quarter that broke the game open.

Both Ewing and Jackson finished with 26 points. Ewing had 14 rebounds.

Houston 110, Seattle 91--After Akeem Olajuwon scored 19 points and had 21 rebounds to lead the Rockets to an easy victory, Seattle Coach Bernie Bickerstaff was irate.

“I hope we had fun these 2 1/2 days in Houston,” Bickerstaff said. “We certainly didn’t play basketball. We were awful.”

The SuperSonics shot only 34.7% and were out-rebounded, 54-39.

New Jersey 121, Charlotte 112--The fledgling Hornets missed consecutive victories over the Nets only because the oft-maligned Joe Barry Carroll came through at the end.

The Hornets, winners at home Friday night by a point, led by 2 points with 12 seconds left in regulation.

But Carroll sent the game into overtime with a hook shot from close range, then scored 7 points in overtime to lead the Nets to victory.

Golden State 109, Washington 102--Manute Bol turned on his old mates and turned defeat into victory for the Warriors at Oakland.

With the road-weary Bullets leading, 43-32, in the second quarter, the 7-6 center started swatting down shots.

Bol blocked 9 shots, 6 of them in the second half, and the Warriors charged back to win.

Chris Mullin scored 25 points and rookie guard Mitch Richmond had 24 for the Warriors (8-10).