NBA ROUNDUP : Barkley Ejected in 76ers’ Loss to Pistons

The elbow was thrown at Detroit’s Dennis Rodman. No one questions that, and the effort was enough to get Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers ejected from Friday night’s game at Auburn Hills, Mich.

But what did it hit? There was 7:32 to play when referee Darrel Garretson tossed Barkley out of a game that was tied, 77-77. Rodman made two free throws on the play, and the Pistons went on to win their 10th in a row, 96-94.

“It didn’t really connect,” Rodman said of Barkley’s elbow. “If it did, it barely hit me. But, everyone knows the rule.”

Barkley, who had 22 points and seven rebounds, was upset with Garretson.

“Watch the tape and see for yourself so you can laugh,” Barkley said.

Rodman was guarding Barkley when Barkley threw the elbow, apparently to ward him off.

In the first half, Barkley scored 17 points and the 76ers built a 56-41 lead.

As late as the last two minutes of the third quarter, the 76ers still led, 71-56.

Joe Dumars and the Piston defense led the charge back into the game. Dumars had 16 of his 24 points in the second half.

The Pistons won it when both Bill Laimbeer and Vinnie Johnson made one out of two free throws in the closing seconds. In between the missed free throws, Philadelphia’s Hersey Hawkins missed a 17-footer.

Boston 123, Washington 95--At Boston, Larry Bird became the 15th player to score 20,000 points, and the Celtics streaked to their eighth consecutive victory.

The Celtics are 12-2 and 8-0 since Coach Chris Ford put 6-foot-5 Kevin Gamble in the lineup at small forward and shifted Bird to the power spot.

Bird, only the fifth player to get 20,000 points and 5,000 assists, had 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek also had 20,000 points and 5,000 assists.

Cleveland 101, Atlanta 93--Brad Daugherty had 30 points at Atlanta and the Cavaliers handed the Hawks their ninth loss in a row.

The Hawks fell apart in the third quarter, scoring only 11 points after leading throughout the first half.

Cleveland took the lead for good, 76-74, on a 16-foot jump shot by Larry Nance with 15 minutes left in the game.

Chicago 124, Indiana 95--Michael Jordan made 10 of his 11 shots in the first quarter to score 20 of his 37 points and help the Bulls build a 41-24 lead on the way to their fourth victory in a row. Wednesday he was seven for seven in the first quarter and the Bulls routed Washington.

Golden State 119, Orlando 113--Chris Mullin had 28 points, and Mitch Richmond scored nine points in the fourth quarter at Orlando as the Warriors handed the Magic their sixth loss in a row.

Richmond’s turnaround jump shot broke a 109-109 tie and gave the Warriors the lead for good with two minutes left.

Milwaukee 103, New York 97--Alvin Robertson had a triple-double at Milwaukee and the Bucks handed the Knicks their fifth loss in a row.

Robertson had 17 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds.

The Bucks held Patrick Ewing to 12 points.

Utah 96, Minnesota 79--Jeff Malone scored 14 of his 19 points in the third quarter at Salt Lake City to help the Jazz break open the game. It was the fifth victory in a row for Utah.

Although he made only six of 17 field goal attempts, Utah’s Karl Malone had 13 rebounds.