NBA ROUNDUP : Charles Who? 76ers Beat Bulls in Overtime

Although the Chicago Bulls have had the best record in the Eastern Conference of the NBA almost all season, they haven’t earned much respect.

The Indiana Pacers have said they want to play Michael Jordan & Co. in the first round of the playoffs. They claim they can beat them.

The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t show the Bulls any respect Sunday at Chicago. Playing without injured Charles Barkley, the 76ers battled to a 114-111 overtime victory despite Jordan’s 41 points.

Hersey Hawkins, who scored eight of his 31 points in overtime, helped the 76ers tie a league record by winning their eighth overtime game. In 1977-78, Milwaukee won eight. The 76ers also tied a record set by New York in 1950-51 of 13 overtime games in a season.

It was the third loss in the past four home games for the Bulls, who lost only three of their first 34 at home. In their battle for the best record in the East, they lead Boston by only a game with seven left.

The key shot was Hawkins’ 17-footer as the 24-second clock was running out with 70 seconds left in overtime. His first shot was blocked, but the ball came right back to the 76ers’ guard and he put it in. That made the score 113-110.

The Bulls, who built a 41-26 lead in the second quarter, fell behind early in the second half and played catch-up most of the rest of the game. Scottie Pippen sent the game into overtime on a driving layup with eight seconds left in regulation to make it 103-103.

The Bulls lately have had the look of a tired team. Coach Phil Jackson could be torn between the desire to have the home-court advantage in the East and giving Jordan and Pippen some rest.

Thursday night the Bulls rallied from 24 points down to beat New York, but Friday night at home they spotted San Antonio a 21-point lead, made a desperate rally, but just missed. The games may have taken their toll.

Jordan missed five of 14 free throws, including one in the overtime that would have cut the 76ers’ lead to one point.

Barkley suffered a knee injury a week ago and is expected to return for the last couple of games in the regular season. The 76ers have won two in a row after losing the first game he missed.

“We didn’t play like a team that was short-handed,” said Armon Gilliam, who scored 25 points and had 11 rebounds. “We really got balanced scoring. Ron (Anderson) made some big shots throughout regulation and when he fouled out, Hersey took over in overtime.”

Jackson, not ready to concede his Bulls are tired, said, “We had good shots, we just couldn’t get the ball to go down.”

Portland 110, Dallas 92--The Trail Blazers completed the easy part of their six-game trip with their 10th consecutive victory.

Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey combined for 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to break the game open at Dallas after the Mavericks battled on even terms for three quarters.

The Trail Blazers have won four on the trip, but have to play at Houston Tuesday night and San Antonio Wednesday. They have won seven in a row on the road.

The winning streak has given the Trail Blazers a firm grip on the best record in the NBA. They are 57-18. With seven games remaining, the Trail Blazers are two games ahead of Chicago.

The Mavericks lost their third in a row and seventh in eight games.

San Antonio 92, Minnesota 87--There is pressure in every game for the three contenders in the Midwest Division.

The Spurs seem to have an edge with David Robinson. The second-year center contributed 29 points and 18 rebounds at Minneapolis and made the big play in the clutch. His three-point play with 1:26 left broke a tie and gave the Spurs the lead for good.

A three-game road sweep enabled the Spurs to extend their lead to one game over Houston and two games over Utah.

The Spurs had to overcome 21 turnovers, which the Timberwolves turned into 20 points.

Pooh Richardson, who had 19 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds for the Timberwolves, made a 20-footer with 1:46 left to tie the score, 85-85.

Robinson made a 10-footer, was fouled by Felton Spencer and converted the foul shot to make San Antonio the fourth team in the West to win 50 games.

“Against (Randy) Breuer and Spencer, I felt it was a mismatch,” Robinson said. “Foot speed is the big difference. I don’t think they can stay with me.”

Seattle 124, Denver 117--The Nuggets had four more baskets and 15 more rebounds but the SuperSonics used free throws to move closer to a playoff spot at Denver.

The Sonics went to the line 57 times and made 46 of them, reducing their magic number over the Clippers to two.

Eddie Johnson was 15 for 16 from the line and had 31 points.

Denver’s Michael Adams made all 17 of his foul shots, the third-highest total without a miss in an NBA game. The record of 19 is shared by Bob Pettit, Bill Cartwright and Adrian Dantley.

Cleveland 102, Charlotte 100--John Williams tipped in a miss by Brad Daugherty with three seconds left at Charlotte, N.C., to give the Cavaliers the victory.

Daugherty, who missed the Cavaliers’ victory at Cleveland Friday night because of a knee problem, had 23 points and 12 rebounds.