Abdul-Jabbar Beats Erving, 41-23

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar defeated Julius Erving, 41-23, Friday night in a 20-minute one-on-one matchup for the benefit of AIDS research.

“I started off very poorly,” said Erving, who made nine of 44 shots. “I had to settle for the long-range shots and they were not falling.” Abdul-Jabbar, who sank 16 of 31, said: “I’m a bigger man and I used it to my advantage. I conditioned for it and I thought I played well.” By the fourth quarter, the crowd became disinterested and began chanting for Magic Johnson. Johnson took the ball during a timeout and went one-on-one with referee Earl Strom. Johnson took only one shot, and missed.

In the preliminaries, Rick Barry sank seven three-pointers to beat Connie Hawkins 29-17. In a second match, George Gervin beat Tiny Archibald, 35-14. Gervin then defeated Barry, 29-26.

National promoters and local cable operators said they would donate $6 for each $19.95 pay-per-view order to AIDS research.