Confident Heat Sends Message to Bulls, 83-80

Unlike many opponents who feel they don’t belong on the same court with the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat came into Chicago’s United Center not only thinking they could win--but knowing as much.

And win the Heat did, 83-80, Saturday night on Dan Majerle’s three-point basket with 1.9 seconds left.

“You’ve got to expect to win here,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “If you don’t, you’re going to be beat before you hit the floor. This was a great win for us, our fourth game in five nights after getting brought to our knees last night at home against New York. We played hard.”

Michael Jordan scored 37 points for the Bulls, who lost only twice in 54 preseason, regular-season and playoff games at the United Center on their way to the 1995-96 NBA title. Their record dropped to 17-2, including 7-1 at home.

“They were playing their fourth game in five nights and had more intensity. They wanted it more than we did. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Jordan said. “It was evident the way they celebrated after the game what it really meant to them. We’ll have that memory.”

Alonzo Mourning scored 20 points and Tim Hardaway 16 for Miami, which had its nine-game winning streak ended Friday by the Knicks. The Heat has beaten the Bulls only six times in 39 tries since joining the league in 1988.

Charlotte 94, Seattle 92--Tony Smith stole Detlef Schrempf’s pass and scored the winning basket on a layup with 4.3 seconds left at Seattle.

The Hornets scored the last seven points of the game to sweep the season series and hand the SuperSonics their third home loss of the season--matching last season’s total.

Shawn Kemp’s basket gave Seattle a 92-87 lead with 3:46 left, but the SuperSonics went scoreless the rest of the way. Vlade Divac’s three-point play with 2:34 left tied the score.

Seattle had eight of its 20 turnovers in the fourth quarter and made only four of 15 shots in that quarter.

Detroit 95, New Jersey 69--Terry Mills tied an NBA record for consecutive three-point baskets at East Rutherford, N.J.

Mills, who had made all 12 of his three-point attempts in the last two games, tied the record when he made his first long-range attempt Saturday with 1:44 left in the first quarter.

The 13 in a row tied the mark set by Brent Price of the Washington Bullets last January.

Mills’ streak came to end when he missed a three-point attempt with 1:17 left in the first quarter.

Utah 104, Denver 91--Karl Malone helped the Jazz get their 14th consecutive victory.

Malone had 21 points at Denver as the Jazz tied their franchise record for consecutive wins.

Houston 123, Philadelphia 108--The Rockets tied a club record with 16 three-point baskets at Houston.

The Rockets made 16 of 26 attempts from long range in beating the 76ers for the 10th consecutive time.

Atlanta 101, Toronto 75--Ivano Newbill, filling in for flu-stricken Dikembe Mutombo, had a career-high 15 rebounds at Atlanta.

Newbill had six rebounds in the third quarter as the Hawks outscored the Raptors, 26-18. Toronto shot only 33.3% in the quarter.

Dallas 96, Vancouver 85--Reserve Derek Harper scored 20 points, including two key three-point baskets at Dallas.

Harper made the shots on Dallas’ final two possessions of the third quarter and the Mavericks took a 78-66 lead into the final quarter. Dallas led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter.

Milwaukee 126, Washington 118--Glenn Robinson scored a career-high 44 points at Landover, Md. Robinson made 16 of 23 shots in helping the Bucks end a two-game skid.