NBA ROUNDUP : Hawks Tarnish Special Night for Bulls

The Chicago Bulls picked up gold NBA championship rings, but their performance was anything but 18-karat.

Paul Graham scored all 10 of his points during the final quarter, including two free throws with 56 seconds to play that gave the Atlanta Hawks a 100-99 victory over the Bulls at Chicago.

“We probably caught them asleep a little bit tonight,” Atlanta Coach Bob Weiss said. “They got their wake-up call in that second half and really came at us. We just hung on. Our guys made big plays down the stretch when they had to.”

Atlanta had a 22-point lead during the second quarter, but the Bulls rallied to take a 99-98 lead on Scottie Pippen’s jump shot with 1:20 to play in the game. It was the Bulls’ first lead since the first quarter.

After Graham’s foul shots, the Bulls’ Michael Jordan, who scored 35 points, had a chance to win it twice in the final minute but saw the ball stripped by Graham, and Dominique Wilkins forced a jump ball with one second left.

“I came down at the end and saw a scramble of players in front of me, so I couldn’t get a good pass off,” Jordan said. “I thought I could get a shot off, but it didn’t work out. This wasn’t pretty basketball. We made too many turnovers.”

The Bulls had 20 turnovers to 17 for Atlanta.

Wilkins scored 33 points and Kevin Willis added 26 for Atlanta. Pippen finished with 28 points.

Chicago Coach Phil Jackson said he wasn’t worried by his team’s poor performance.

“Last year we lost a couple of very ugly games at the beginning of the season,” he said. “This was definitely an opening-type of game. We have a way to go in precision shooting and ball-handling skills.”

Atlanta scored 15 consecutive points in a span of 4:55 to take a 42-20 lead before Pippen scored 3:45 into the second quarter. Willis scored a basket to give the Hawks another 22-point lead, but Chicago edged its way back and trailed, 58-44, at halftime.

Golden State 121, Minnesota 119--Jeff Grayer scored seven of his 15 points in overtime and the Warriors spoiled Christian Laettner’s home debut with the Timberwolves at Minneapolis.

Laettner, Minnesota’s No. 1 draft pick, had 26 points and 14 rebounds after an eight-point, seven-rebound performance during Friday’s opening 113-92 loss at Boston.

Grayer’s three-point play with 3:18 left in overtime gave the Warriors the lead for good, 115-113, and he scored again to make the score 119-113.

Tim Hardaway scored 24 points and Billy Owens had 23 for the Warriors.

Milwaukee 124, Boston 88--Blue Edwards scored 30 points and the Bucks used 21 consecutive points in the third quarter to pull away from the Celtics at Milwaukee.

Edwards had three consecutive baskets during the Bucks’ streak, which stretched their lead to 81-55.

Dee Brown scored 24 points for Boston.

Orlando 103, Washington 98--Top draft choice Shaquille O’Neal had 22 points and 15 rebounds in his second NBA game as the Magic rallied to beat the Bullets at Landover, Md.

O’Neal, limited to 12 points in his debut against Miami on Friday night, had 16 during the first half. He made only three of eight shots during the second half, but his layup with 2:04 to play tied the score, 97-97.

Chris Corchiani followed with a basket that put Orlando ahead to stay, 99-97.

Utah 122, Dallas 106--Karl Malone and Jeff Malone each had 12 points during the final quarter, and the Jazz scored the final 19 points to beat the Mavericks at Dallas.

Derek Harper, who scored 26 points, gave Dallas a 106-103 lead on a basket with 3:27 to play, but the Mavericks didn’t score again.

Karl Malone finished with 31 points; Jeff Malone scored 27.

Detroit 89, Indiana 87--Joe Dumars scored the go-ahead basket on a goaltending call with 38 seconds to play and the Pistons beat the Pacers at Indianapolis.

Reggie Miller had three free throws, one after a technical foul, but made only one for the Pacers with 26 seconds to play.

George McCloud scored 24 points for the Pacers and Mark Aguirre had 24 for the Pistons.

New York 89, Philadelphia 85--Greg Anthony scored 11 of his 12 points during the second half, including a tiebreaking jumper with 32 seconds to play, as the Knicks beat the 76ers at New York.

The 76ers, who missed 28 of 38 shots during the second half, tied the score, 85-85, with 48 seconds to play on five consecutive points by Ron Anderson before Anthony connected. Patrick Ewing, who had 16 points and 16 rebounds, added two free throws with 13 seconds remaining.

Hersey Hawkins scored 20 points for Philadelphia.

Denver 125, San Antonio 121--Chris Jackson scored 32 points, including a three-pointer with 1:03 to play in the second overtime that carried the Nuggets past the Spurs at Denver.

The Spurs, 0-2 under rookie Coach Jerry Tarkanian, had a 99-88 lead with 3:01 to play in regulation, but the Nuggets forced overtime with a 12-1 run, including seven points by Jackson.

Rookie Bryant Stith’s two free throws tied the score, 100-100, with 9.3 seconds to play.

Seattle 89, Houston 85--Nate McMillan scored 22 of his 24 points during the second half as the SuperSonics swept their two-game series with the Rockets in Japan by winning at Yokohama.

The SuperSonics had a one-point lead in the final minute but pulled away on a basket and two free throws by McMillan.

Miami 106, New Jersey 94--Bimbo Coles, playing in place of injured guards Steve Smith and Brian Shaw, had 25 points and eight assists as the Heat defeated the Nets at Miami.