THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Barkley Was Jordanesque in Landing This MVP Vote

Whew, did we make it through another exhibition, er, regular season?

Then it must be time for the annual awards.

MVP--1) Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns. 2) Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. 3) Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets. 4) Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks.

You can make an excellent argument for giving it to Jordan in any decent year: He’s that far above everyone. Michael was routinely wonderful, but Charles was so good and led his team to the best record in the league and poured beer on only one person.

All-NBA--first team: Jordan, Barkley, Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Utah Jazz; Mark Price, Cleveland Cavaliers.

Second team: Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks; Derrick Coleman, New Jersey Nets; Ewing, Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons; John Stockton, Jazz.

Third team: Larry Johnson, Charlotte Hornets; Danny Manning, Clippers; Shaquille O’Neal, Orlando Magic; Mark Jackson, Clippers; Jeff Hornacek, Philadelphia 76ers.

Sixth man--Cliff Robinson, Portland Trail Blazers.

Most improved--Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics. The Nets’ Kenny Anderson and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Eric Murdock made quantum leaps, too, but they weren’t third-year busts like Payton.

Defensive player--Olajuwon. Detroit’s Dennis Rodman would have been the pick if he hadn’t taken one-third of the season off. As it was, he still outrebounded everyone else.

Rookie of the year--O’Neal. Charlotte’s Alonzo Mourning would have been right there if he hadn’t held out for the first month of the season. Shaq finished in a tie for third among centers in scoring, second in blocked shots, first in rebounding.

All-rookie team--O’Neal; Mourning; Christian Laettner, Minnesota Timberwolves; Jim Jackson, Dallas Mavericks; Tom Gugliotta, Washington Bullets.

The interesting thing is, that’s the exact order in which they were drafted.

Honorable mention, all-rookie--Richard Dumas, Suns; Walt Williams, Sacramento Kings; Anthony Peeler, Lakers; Clarence Weatherspoon, 76ers; Latrell Sprewell, Golden State Warriors.

More rookies any coach would love to get his hands on--LaPhonso Ellis, Denver Nuggets; Todd Day, Bucks; Robert Horry, Rockets; Harold Miner, Miami Heat.

Best picks--Dumas at No. 46 (19th in the second round) in ‘91; Sprewell at No. 24; Oliver Miller, Suns, at 22; Peeler at 15; Miner at 12.

Coach of the year--We’ll wait until after the conference finals to pick one, but here are the candidates:

Pat Riley, Knicks--A year after taking over a rag-tag crew, he integrated seven more new players, leaving him with three who have been together for two years, improved them steadily, mellowed out his three madmen, give or take an incident here and there, and is in position to make a run at the title.

Phil Jackson, Bulls--His players were already tired and cranky when the season started, but he stayed cool and is still in position, too.

Lenny Wilkens, Cavaliers--Understated, to say the least, but he’s now No. 2 all-time in coaching victories and warming up at the right time.

Paul Westphal, Suns--An inventive guy, but was it his coaching or did they just luck into great chemistry? We’ll see now.

George Karl, SuperSonics--Forget the hullabaloo about benching Shawn Kemp and Derrick (Slowhand) McKey. Remember what this team was like before he got there?

Rudy Tomjanovich, Rockets--They were given up as brain-dead, but here they are.

Honorable mention: Mike Dunleavy, Bucks, for best overachievement in any month (November, when his Boy Scout troop went 9-3); Larry Brown, Clippers, for forming a team from one hostage, four free agents-in-waiting and two whales.

MICHAEL’S LAST STAND

The Bulls and Knicks meet today, but No. 1 in the East has already been settled. The Knicks clinched it Friday when the Bulls lost at Charlotte and now will have home-court advantage through the first three rounds of the playoffs.

What’s it worth?

The Bulls won Game 7 in last year’s series against the Knicks. The Knicks have lost four home games all season and none in three months.

No team has won an NBA title without winning its conference in 15 seasons, since the Bullets did it.

Compounding the Chicago disadvantage is Cleveland’s late-season resurgence. Barring upsets, the Bulls will have to play the Cavaliers just to get to the Knicks and the Cavaliers are rolling, winners of 10 in a row before losing Friday night without Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance. The Cavaliers thumped the Bulls last week in Cleveland, won the season series, 3-2, and are almost rooting openly for a shot at Chicago.

“They’re scared of New York,” Jordan said. “That’s the problem. We don’t fight.”

In the absence of good news, Jordan spent the week pumping up the volume, as if trying to will his team across the finish line.

“Everything that happens in the regular season is hogwash,” Jordan said. “They (Cavaliers) beat us six straight in ‘88-89 and we beat them in the playoffs. I think we’re a much better team.

“I’ll die trying (for a three-peat), that’s my philosophy. I’ll do whatever it takes to get this team where it’s got to go. If I die, I’m going to die with no bullets in my gun.”

Sure enough, he scored 38 points at Charlotte and hit a fadeaway 15-footer with 17 seconds left to put the Bulls ahead, 103-102, but they lost anyway. He’d better get a bigger gun for the playoffs, or more help.

CAVALIER ATTITUDE

It could be the wrong spring to meet the Cavaliers, a tall, deep, talented bunch who hunt, fish and sing in church choirs rather than talk trash and fight. They get scant national publicity and none, if you skip insults.

Last year, they were dismissed as “marshmallows.” This spring, Sport magazine noted that they displayed “the toughness of hairdressers.”

The mild-mannered Wilkens was not amused.

“I’m tired of picking up the paper and people saying this and that about this team,” he said.

How’s that for a stinging rebuke?

Nevertheless, the Cavaliers are gosh-darned upset, so watch who you call marshmallows this time.

CELTIC ATTITUDE

Red Auerbach, who has not had any sportsmanship awards named after him, went on New York TV last week, called the Knicks dirty and pooh-poohed Riley’s coach-of-the-year candidacy, saying he merely had good players.

Riley, who once called the Celtics “the Klingons of the NBA,” knew exactly where he was coming from.

“I kid Red all the time,” Riley said. “He’s a lot like I am. He hates us. He hates anybody that had anything to do with the Lakers and the Knicks. He hates ‘em. I feel the same way about the Celtics.

“Red still thinks he won in ’85 (when the Lakers won the NBA championship in Boston after seven previous defeats by the Celtics in the finals) and he didn’t. He still thinks they won. He walked off the floor and he said, ‘I know we won.’ ”

Auerbach responded that he’s rooting for Riley to win the award. Red’s likeness is on the trophy and he likes the idea of Riley having to look at it every day.

FACES AND FIGURES

Easy Rider: Paul Westphal babied the Suns down the stretch, putting Barkley on the injured list because of a sore shoulder, resting Kevin Johnson’s tight hamstring on the second night of consecutive games, playing everyone fewer minutes. They lost three in a row for the first time and went 1-5 without Barkley. “We still have three ‘exhibition games’ left,” Westphal said at the start of the week. “Whether we finish with 63 wins or 60 wins, when the playoffs start, we’ll be ready.” . . . Said Danny Ainge: “I think we’ll come out with more effort in the playoffs. Heck, we can’t come out with any less.” They might also come out without Johnson, who probably will be sidelined for the first two games of a first-round series against the Lakers after suffering a severely sprained left knee on Thursday night.

Hard rider: Ewing left Wednesday’s Knick game because of a sprained right elbow. “It’s killing me right now,” he said later. Riley then announced that Ewing would start Friday at Philadelphia. “He’s got to withstand it and he will,” Riley said. . . . Shouldn’t have ridden at all: Portland’s Clyde Drexler, trying to warm up his sore hamstring for the playoffs, aggravated the injury within seven minutes last week and sat out the last four games. “I don’t think that was so bright,” Barkley said. “A player like Clyde, do you have to prove you can come back and play? I think when I come back, people will know I can play.”

Phil Jackson, on Jordan’s drive: “Michael is a shark. He’s competitive to the extent he’d like to beat you for your last cent and send you home without your clothes, too. Dr. J (Julius Erving) was competitive. He wanted to take your last cent, but he wouldn’t send you home naked and without your car, like Michael.” . . . Pippen averaged 12 points for six games before breaking out of it at mid-week with 25 against the Pistons. “He’s hit a wall,” Jordan said. “I went through it earlier in the season. He’s in a shooting slump. He just needs to get his confidence back.”

Roy Tarpley, who played this season in Greece, can apply for NBA reinstatement next season. The Mavericks control his rights, but Tarpley wants to be traded to San Antonio, where he can play for detox specialist John Lucas.