Wizards Open Their New Den and Break Spell With a Victory

The Washington Wizards invited their new neighbor, President Clinton, and their old opening-night patsy, the Seattle SuperSonics, to the inauguration of their new Washington arena.

The Wizards then made the celebration of the opening of the $200-million MCI Center complete with their first home victory of the season Tuesday night, getting 18 points each from Juwan Howard and Tracy Murray in a 95-78 victory that ended the SuperSonics’ seven-game winning streak.

Washington had lost all five of its home games at the USAir Arena this season.

Seattle helped open Washington’s Capital Centre exactly 24 years ago. On that occasion, the SuperSonics played the role of gracious guests by dropping a 98-96 decision to the then-Washington Capitals.

The grand opening of the 20,674-seat arena Tuesday went off with nary a glitch, except perhaps for the delay created by fans being forced to enter through metal detectors because of Clinton’s appearance.

Phoenix 90, Milwaukee 86--George McCloud’s three-point basket with 52.6 seconds left at Milwaukee, the Suns’ only three-pointer of the night, tied the score and Rex Chapman added four points in the final 23 seconds to assure the victory.

Phoenix missed its first 11 tries from three-point range, including six by McCloud, before he hit one uncontested to key the victory.

McCloud scored a season-high 16 points in his first start of the season.

For Milwaukee, the loss was its 14th in its last 15 games against Phoenix, including six of the last seven in Milwaukee.

Atlanta 112, Dallas 79--The Hawks had their largest margin of victory and set a season high for points at Dallas, where they rolled to their fourth straight win.

Steve Smith scored a season-high 28 points to lead Atlanta.

Houston 112, Denver 101--Charles Barkley had 15 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds for the 20th triple-double of his career as the Rockets won their sixth straight game.

The Nuggets, losing for the 13th time in 14 games and winless in eight road contests, got 32 points from Johnny Newman and 22 from Danny Fortson, both off the bench.

Denver finally topped 100 points for the first time this season, stopping a franchise record 13-game streak of failing to reach triple figures.

Orlando 89, Portland 88--Penny Hardaway scored 29 points at Portland, and the Magic hung on despite blowing a 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

Portland’s Isaiah Rider had 33 points.

San Antonio 90, New York 84--For the sixth time this season, the Knicks led after three quarters only to lose. New York hit only six of 26 shots in the fourth quarter of the game at San Antonio.

David Robinson and Tim Duncan each scored 23 points for the Spurs. Robinson added 14 rebounds and five blocks. Duncan had 13 rebounds to go along with his career high in points.

New York’s Patrick Ewing had 25 points and 15 rebounds.

Hornets 121, Kings 102--Glen Rice scored 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter at Charlotte on a night when his Hornets had a franchise-record 41 assists.

Charlotte shot a season-high 59%, including a 12-for-18 performance by Rice, to send the Kings to their fourth consecutive loss.