NBA ROUNDUP : Cold New Jersey Takes Some of Heat Off Riley

Pat Riley got booed again, but the similarities between Tuesday night and Wednesday night ended there.

Riley’s Miami Heat rebounded from a loss to the New York Knicks a night earlier to defeat the New Jersey Nets, 112-104, in overtime Wednesday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

The booing was nowhere near as drastic as it was a night earlier when Riley made his return to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks--the team he coached for the past four seasons before leaving on bad terms.

“I think the snow helped. There weren’t many people here and they didn’t have the energy the Knicks crowd did,” Riley said of the comparatively mild reaction he got from the crowd at the Meadowlands Arena.

Kevin Gamble scored a career-high 37 points and Bimbo Coles got six of his 14 points in overtime as the Heat ended a five-game losing streak.

The Nets, who dropped their fourth in a row, missed their first six shots and went only one for 10 from the field in overtime.

Kenny Anderson led the Nets with 26 points.

Phoenix 106, Washington 104--Charles Barkley, ice-cold from the floor, made two free throws with 1.8 seconds left in overtime at Phoenix.

Barkley had 26 points and 14 rebounds. But he made only two of 16 shots, while making 22 of a franchise-record 27 free throws.

Elliot Perry had 20 points and 12 assists, and A.C. Green had 12 points and 18 rebounds, helping the Suns to a 49-35 edge that proved critical when they kept getting second shots.

Juwan Howard had 23 points for Washington and Robert Pack scored 20.

Philadelphia 108, Utah 104--Reserve guard Trevor Ruffin scored a career-high 32 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 18 points and 15 rebounds at Philadelphia.

Vernon Maxwell scored all 15 of his points in the second half for the 76ers.

Karl Malone had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Jazz, and Jeff Hornacek added 22 points.

Orlando 107, Minnesota 100--Penny Hardaway scored 32 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 30 as the Magic improved to 13-0 at Orlando Arena.

Nick Anderson had 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Christian Laettner led Minnesota with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Detroit 102, Milwaukee 77--Allan Houston scored 29 points, including consecutive three-point baskets during a 10-0 run that put Detroit in control at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Otis Thorpe scored 19 points for the Pistons and Grant Hill had 17.

Vin Baker led Milwaukee with 25 points.

Denver 109, Golden State 104--Don MacLean matched his career high with 38 points and Dikembe Mutombo made a critical hook shot with 13.5 seconds left at Denver.

Chris Mullin came off the bench to lead Golden State with 26 points.

NBA Notes

Clyde Drexler probably will sit out tonight’s game against Portland, and the Houston Rocket guard might be out for two weeks because of a bruised shin, the team said. Drexler was injured Tuesday night when he collided with Charles Barkley. . . . The Miami Heat was fined $25,000 by the NBA for failing to make its players available to the media before Tuesday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.