Laettner Misses Shot at Beating Bulls

Michael Jordan is used to making tough shots in the final seconds for the Chicago Bulls. Friday night, he had to sweat it out after missing an easy one at Atlanta.

Jordan, who scored 30 points, missed an eight-footer in the lane with nine seconds to go, but Atlanta’s Christian Laettner missed a three-point try at the buzzer to enable the Bulls to escape with an 89-88 victory, ending the Hawks’ 20-game home winning streak.

Dennis Rodman, playing the second game since his 11-game suspension for kicking a cameraman, started out on the bench. Coach Phil Jackson went with Toni Kukoc at forward, deciding that was a better matchup against Laettner.

Rodman finished with two points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with just over two minutes remaining. He got into several exchanges with Laettner and Dikembe Mutombo.

“Mutombo thinks he owns the rim out there,” Rodman said. “I just kept telling him, ‘Give us a chance too. Quit crying and play the game.’ ”

It was the first loss for the Hawks at the Omni since their home opener on Nov. 2, when they were beaten by Detroit.

Seattle 105, Houston 85--Gary Payton scored 23 points and Detlef Schrempf had 16 of his 20 points in the second half at Seattle to give the SuperSonics their first victory in three games against the Rockets this season.

The SuperSonics had entered the game 0-7 this season against Western Conference powers Houston, Utah and the Lakers.

Seattle’s Shawn Kemp and Houston’s Kevin Willis were ejected late in the third quarter after squaring off underneath.

Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon was held to six points in 29 minutes and did not play in the fourth quarter.

Washington 125, New Jersey 107--Juwan Howard scored 25 points and Calbert Cheaney added 22 at Baltimore, giving Bernie Bickerstaff his first victory as coach of the Bullets in his second game on the job.

The victory ended a season-high five-game losing streak for Washington.

Kendall Gill led the Nets with 25 points.

Detroit 109, Charlotte 103--Getting Grant Hill in foul trouble backfired on the Hornets at Charlotte, N.C. Hill, limited to 14 minutes and four points in the first half, scored 25 in the second.

“It turned out to be a blessing, I think, because I was rested for the second half,” Hill said.

In winning for the eighth time in 10 games, the Pistons took 23 shots from three-point range and made 12, one short of their season high and two short of the franchise record.

Milwaukee 106, Toronto 102--Glenn Robinson scored 37 points to lead the Bucks in the first NBA regular-season game played in Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens since 1975.

In the last regular-season game in the arena, the Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz.

The victory was Milwaukee’s second in its last seven games--both coming against the Raptors.

Minnesota 104, Orlando 100--Reserve Chris Carr scored 22 points in 25 minutes at Minneapolis, where the Timberwolves handed the Magic its third consecutive loss since the All-Star break.

Golden State 108, San Antonio 94--Latrell Sprewell scored 32 points and Joe Smith added 20 at San Antonio to help the Warriors win for only the second time in six games.

Dominique Wilkins had 22 points for the Spurs, who have lost eight of their last nine.

Vancouver 109, Boston 106--Rookie Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 31 points and Bryant Reeves scored 30--16 in the third quarter--at Vancouver, giving the Grizzlies consecutive victories for the first time this season.

Todd Day led the Celtics with 29 points, and rookie Antoine Walker had 28 points and 13 rebounds.