NBA ROUNDUP : Olajuwon’s Shot Caps Rockets’ Comeback

Hakeem Olajuwon is expected to play an exceptional game every night. When he does, the Houston Rockets can beat anyone.

Olajuwon gave a dream performance Wednesday night at Houston, and the Rockets knocked the Golden State Warriors out of first place in the Pacific Division.

The Warriors, who had won eight in a row since the All-Star break, built an 18-point lead by halftime.

But Olajuwon sparked the Rockets’ comeback and made their last six points, including a 21-foot fallaway jump shot at the buzzer for a 118-116 victory.

Olajuwon barely missed a triple-double. He had 33 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

In his three previous games, Olajuwon averaged only 19 points. Unless he is brilliant, the Rockets struggle. They are only two games over .500.

With Tim Hardaway scoring 31 points, it didn’t appear the Rockets, even with a big game from their big man, had a prayer.

The Warriors played a flawless first half, building a 61-43 lead.

The Rockets scored 42 points in the third quarter and pulled to within 86-85.

Interim Coach Rudy Tomjanovich of the Rockets said he had another on-the-job training lesson.

“Maybe I put too much fear in our team with my pregame report,” Tomjanovich said. “I told them (the Warriors) could score 200 points in a game. I think I built them up too much.”

The game turned on a miscue by Sarunas Marciulionis with two seconds left and the score tied, 116-116. He was driving to the basket and lost the ball.

On the inbounds pass, Tyrone Hill was guarding Olajuwon. But Otis Thorpe made the pass to the big center and he sank the jump shot.

“I can’t believe it,” Hill said. “How does anybody make a shot like that?”

Chicago 122, Washington 103--A team is having bad luck when it has to play the powerful Bulls the night after they have suffered one of their rare defeats.

In a game at Chicago, the Bulls jumped on top, 34-22, after a quarter and easily improved their home record to 25-3.

By halftime it was 69-47, and Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were used sparingly the rest of the game. The lead reached 33 points.

Jordan had 26 points in 27 minutes. Pippen, playing 29 minutes, had 24 points and nine rebounds.

Boston 130, Indiana 109--All the Celtics needed was to get back to Boston Garden.

In their first game on the parquet floor in more than three weeks, the Celtics raced to a 38-21 lead in the first quarter and never were in danger.

Dee Brown, who came off the bench early, had 10 of his 21 points in the first quarter.

The Celtics had lost two in a row and seven of their last nine games. One of the defeats had been last Sunday at Indiana, 102-95.

Boston’s Larry Bird, sidelined for more than a month with back trouble, is expected to return Sunday against Dallas.

Orlando 95, Philadelphia 89--Terry Catledge had 30 points and Scott Skiles capped a big night at Orlando with four points in the last 66 seconds for the Magic.

Orlando, which had lost four in a row, led most of the game. The Magic led by 14 points with 10 minutes to play, but by only two when Armon Gilliam made two free throws with 1:21 left to make it 89-87.

Skiles sank a 15-footer, then followed it up with two free throws to clinch the victory.

Miami 105, Denver 98--Glen Rice scored a personal-best 38 points at Denver to help the Heat continue its drive to a playoff spot.

Miami (27-29) squandered a 15-point lead and fell behind, 82-78, with 10:21 left.

But the Nuggets, who lost their third in a row, went 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal.

Phoenix 103, Cleveland 100--Kevin Johnson had 23 points and 17 assists at Phoenix to lead the Suns to a hard-earned victory.

Johnson also stole an inbounds pass, batting the ball to Craig Ehlo of the Cavaliers, who was standing out of bounds.

The turnover cost the Cavaliers a chance to go in front and turned out to be a four-point switch.

Minnesota 106, Dallas 105--Gerald Glass, starting in place of ailing Tony Campbell, had a personal-best 31 points at Minneapolis.

Campbell, suffering from a back problem, was used sparingly but had 17 points.

It was the 13th road loss in a row for the Mavericks.