NBA ROUNDUP : Miller Leaves, Jordan Stays and Bulls Win

Those who believe Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls benefit from special treatment in the NBA will point to Wednesday night’s game with the Indiana Pacers as further proof.

Michael Jordan, involved in a first-quarter fight that ended with the ejection of Reggie Miller, scored 40 points as Chicago ended a nine-game trip with a 115-104 victory at Indianapolis.

The victory was the Bulls’ fifth in a row and left them 6-3 on the trip, their longest in 18 years. They have won six consecutive games against the Pacers, including four this season.

The Pacers lost Miller with 4:29 left in the first quarter when he was ejected after starting a fight with Jordan.

“The referees were a joke for doing that, a joke,” Miller said. “They say I elbowed him, but if I did, they should have called an elbow foul before a fight broke out.

“That just shows you how high we are--at the bottom of the totem pole. And they’re at the top. They’re still running the league. He’s running the league.”

Miller tipped in a missed shot by Pooh Richardson and when he turned he bumped Jordan with his forearm and continued to run up the floor.

Jordan caught up with Miller, and the two players began to grapple, with Jordan head-butting Miller and both players throwing punches. Both benches emptied before order was restored.

Miller was assessed a personal foul for elbowing and a technical foul for throwing a punch. Jordan did not receive a foul.

Miller said Jordan started the fight when he hit him with a forearm earlier. However, Jordan said the first incident came when he was tripped by Miller on a fast break and skinned his palm.

“I thought we both got a shot in at each other, but he took it to an extreme,” Jordan said. “It could have gone either way. I could have been thrown out. He could have been thrown out.”

Scottie Pippen added 30 points for the Bulls, and Horace Grant had 16 points and 14 rebounds. Detlef Schrempf scored 21 for Indiana, and Dale Davis added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Washington 110, Dallas 102--LaBradford Smith came off the bench to score eight points in a 16-7 run at the start of the fourth quarter that lifted the Bullets over the Mavericks at Dallas.

Michael Adams scored 29 points and Pervis Ellison added 22 for Washington in a match of the teams with the worst records in the Eastern and Western conferences.

Derek Harper had 23 points and Randy White added 19 for Dallas.

Miami 101, Minnesota 90--Grant Long had 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to help the Heat overcome an NBA-record tying performance by the Timberwolves’ Chuck Person at Minneapolis.

Person tied the record he holds for three-point proficiency by making all six he took.

Miami center Rony Seikaly was out because of flu but John Salley had 14 points and eight rebounds in his place. Glen Rice added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Heat.

Orlando 96, Cleveland 87--Scott Skiles scored 20 points and Shaquille O’Neal and Nick Anderson added 19 apiece as the Magic beat the Cavaliers and surpassed its win total of last season at Orlando.

Orlando (22-21) didn’t win its 21st game last season until April 15--80 games into the season. The loss ended Cleveland’s five-game winning streak.

Orlando took a 29-27 lead early in the second quarter and didn’t trail again. The Cavaliers fell behind by 12 points in the third quarter and couldn’t get closer than six the rest of the way.

New Jersey 109, Detroit 86--Kenny Anderson scored 28 points and Derrick Coleman had 21 points and 17 rebounds as the Nets defeated the Pistons in Coach Chuck Daly’s first game against his former team at East Rutherford, N.J.

Bernard King of the Nets made his first appearance of the season at the start of the second quarter and sank his first shot 32 seconds later. He missed three of his next four shots and finished with eight points.

Terry Mills scored 21 points for Detroit. Joe Dumars was held scoreless in 26 minutes.

Houston 98, Philadelphia 90--Hakeem Olajuwon had 25 points, 20 rebounds, six blocked shots and seven assists as the Rockets beat the 76ers at Philadelphia.

Kenny Smith had 17 points and 10 assists for Houston. Olajuwon’s 20 rebounds and seven assists were season-highs.