Hill’s 46 Points Come With a Real Nice Gift

Grant Hill scored a career-high 46 points, two of which came after he appeared to receive superstar treatment from the referees.

Hill made two free throws after a highly questionable foul call on Juwan Howard with 13 seconds left, and the Detroit Pistons remained undefeated with a 106-103 victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night at Auburn Hills, Mich.

With Washington leading, 103-102, Hill had the ball on the left side and was torn between driving the baseline and calling timeout. As he lost his balance and fell out of bounds, Howard was called for a foul.

“He was totally off balance, fell out of bounds, and the foul was called. I felt I played good defense on him,” Howard said.

Television replays seemed to confirm Howard’s version. Hill sank both shots for a 104-103 lead.

Moments later, Lindsey Hunter poked the ball away from Rod Strickland. Jud Buechler picked up the ball and was fouled, and sank two free throws with 1.9 remaining for the final margin.

Houston 99, Denver 80--With a sellout crowd cheering his every move, Scottie Pippen had 24 points and 13 rebounds in his home debut for the Rockets.

Houston’s threesome of Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Pippen shot a collective 74% from the field in a take-charge first half that ended with Houston ahead by 22.

Barkley finished with 15 points and 19 rebounds. Olajuwon had 14 points and 13 rebounds, giving the Rockets three double-double performances.

Indiana 95, Cleveland 89--Reggie Miller scored 28 points, Chris Mullin added 22 and Indiana spoiled the home opener for the Cavaliers, who dropped to 0-3.

Miller took control of the game in the second half, scoring 10 points in the third and 10 in the fourth.

Charlotte 94, Miami 91--J.R. Reid made several key plays in the final 72 seconds at Charlotte and the Hornets avoided their first 0-3 start in four years.

Miami was without leading scorer Jamal Mashburn, who sat out to rest a deep thigh bruise.

Orlando 107, Boston 90--Penny Hardaway scored 28 points to lead the Magic at Orlando, Fla.

Hardaway made eight of 19 shots in his strongest performance since early last season before injuries forced him out of the lineup for 63 games.

Portland 95, Vancouver 76--Arvydas Sabonis scored 10 of his 24 points in the third quarter to lead the Trail Blazers at Vancouver.

Vancouver rookie point guard Mike Bibby managed only three points and seven assists in 41 minutes.

NBA Notes

Atlanta’s Steve Smith and New Jersey’s Kendall Gill were fined $2,500 by the NBA for fighting near the locker rooms after the Hawks’ 111-106 win over the visiting Nets on Saturday.