NBA ROUNDUP : Pippen’s 35 Points Help Bulls Hold Off Warriors, 97-93

In his first encounter with referee Joe Crawford since throwing a chair in Chicago, Scottie Pippen again watched the end of the game from the bench.

But this time he wasn’t ejected. He left on good terms, having fouled out after scoring 35 points in 41 minutes, as the Chicago Bulls blew a 24-point lead before holding off the Golden State Warriors, 97-93, Sunday night at Oakland.

“We knew we had control of this team, but somehow we just weren’t able to put them away,” said Pippen, who scored 10 points while playing most of the fourth quarter with five fouls.

The Bulls were up, 95-88, with 1:48 to play and still nearly lost. The Warriors had a chance to tie late in the game after Chicago’s B.J. Armstrong came up short on a 15-footer, but Keith Jennings missed a lay-in with 20 seconds to go.

Armstrong was then fouled and made two free throws to end it.

Houston 124, Phoenix 100--The three-point shooting of Vernon Maxwell and Sam Cassell and Hakeem Olajuwon’s strength inside led the Rockets at Phoenix.

The Rockets became only the third team to defeat Phoenix at home this season.

Olajuwon had 28 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks as the Rockets won their fourth consecutive game, ending a three-game streak by Phoenix.

Boston 115, Minnesota 82--Dee Brown scored 16 of his 23 points in the second quarter as the Celtics pulled away with a 25-5 run at Boston.

The Timberwolves shot only 38% in their fifth consecutive loss. Boston has won three of its last four games.

Seattle 136, Miami 109--Shawn Kemp had 26 points and 11 rebounds at Miami and Seattle set a team record with its 10th consecutive road victory.

With every Seattle starter scoring in double figures in the first three quarters, the SuperSonics won for the 14th time in their last 16 games.

Charlotte 111, Washington 105--Robert Parish made two free throws and Dell Curry sank a long jumper in the final 38 seconds at Charlotte, N.C., extending the Hornets’ winning streak to six games.