Orlando Wins, Breaks Oldest Record in the League

In only seven seasons in the NBA, the Orlando Magic became good enough to break a record that had stood seven times that long.

The Magic set the record for home victories at the start of a season Tuesday night, improving to 28-0 at Orlando Arena with a 123-104 rout of Philadelphia.

Behind Shaquille O’Neal’s 24 points and 13 rebounds, Orlando broke a 49-year-old mark set by the 1946-47 Washington Capitols, a team coached by Red Auerbach.

It was the longest-standing record in the NBA, yet the defending Eastern Conference champions didn’t celebrate.

“We’re proud, but we’re not satisfied because if you get satisfied, someone can sneak in here tomorrow night and get a win,” the Magic’s Dennis Scott said. “It would be sweeter to win every single game because nobody could ever beat that.”

Said Orlando Coach Brian Hill of the record, “It’s something that they should be proud of. It stood for 49 years.”

The Atlantic Division leaders have won 35 consecutive regular-season games on their home court, three shy of the league record held by the Boston Celtics.

Trevor Ruffin led the 76ers with 32 points, 21 in the fourth quarter.

Chicago 102, Cleveland 76--Offensive stars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen had the scoring load lifted from their shoulders by Ron Harper, who scored a season-high 22 points at Chicago.

Dennis Rodman had 15 rebounds for the Bulls, who used a 53-30 advantage on the boards to improve to 47-5 overall and 24-0 at home. Chicago has a 31-game home winning streak going back to last season.

Terrell Brandon scored 21 points for the Cavaliers, whose eight-game winning streak was stopped.

Milwaukee 92, New York 87--Glenn Robinson scored 27 points and Vin Baker had 23 at New York to lead the Bucks to their fourth consecutive victory at Madison Square Garden.

The visiting team has won the last eight games in the series.

Free throws were a key element in the Milwaukee victory. Robinson was 12 for 12 from the free-throw line. As a team, the Bucks were 21 for 23 on foul shots and won despite making no field goals in the final three minutes.

The Knicks, whose six-game home winning streak was ended, shot only 38 percent from the field.

Patrick Ewing had 29 points and 18 rebounds, but missed 20 of his 31 shots.

San Antonio 108, Portland 105--David Robinson had 39 points, nine rebounds and eight blocked shots at Portland, where the Trail Blazers have been in a big slump.

The Blazers, 0-5 since the All-Star break, lost their sixth in a row at home, tying a franchise record.

NBA Notes

Steve Kaufman, agent for Golden State Warrior center Rony Seikaly, told the San Jose Mercury News that Seikaly wants to be traded, preferably before Thursday’s trading deadline.