NBA Roundup : Expansion Teams Feel at Home With Victories Over Chicago and Utah

It isn’t quite the new year, but winning on the same night was all new for this season’s National Basketball Assn. expansion teams Friday night.

The Miami Heat, after 11 consecutive defeats at home, earned a surprisingly one-sided victory over the Utah Jazz, 101-80, to improve its record to 2-21.

The Charlotte Hornets, although they have been respectable from the start, had an especially satisfying victory because it spoiled the return to North Carolina of Michael Jordan, who starred there in college. It was a last-second layup by former Laker Kurt Rambis that gave the Hornets a 103-101 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

At Miami, the Jazz, showing the effects of a 6-game, 10-day trip, went cold in the second half to lose for the 5th time in 6 games.

The Jazz, who lost tough, close games to such teams as Boston and Cleveland, led, 50-49, although only Karl Malone was shooting well.

The last 24 minutes were a Jazz disaster. Although Malone scored 9 of his 19 points in the third quarter, Utah was outscored, 23-13. When Malone wore out in the last quarter, the game turned into a rout.

The Jazz was guilty of 25 turnovers, was badly beaten on the boards, 49-33, and had only 64 shots in 48 minutes.

Before a crowd of 15,008, the Heat came out firing in the third quarter. Rory Sparrow sank 4 outside shots in a 12-4 run by the Heat. After Malone brought the Jazz close again, the Heat, with the fans roaring, outscored Utah, 24-6, and won going away.

“There was some magic out there tonight,” Miami Coach Ron Rothstein said. “It was a great big, big win for Christmas.

“In the NBA you have to protect your home turf. Tonight, we finally did it.”

The Heat lost its first 17 games before winning at Los Angeles against the Clippers Dec. 14. This losing streak lasted only 4 games.

Charlotte 103, Chicago 101--For a week, the only thing you could read about or hear in North Carolina, was the return of Michael Jordan, a hero as a collegian at North Carolina.

“The standing ovation (as Jordan was introduced) was a courtesy and he earned it,” said Hornet guard Robert Reid. “But when the game started, the fans said, ‘Michael, we love you but not when you play the Hornets.”’

Jordan, held to 9 points in the first half, had 18 in the final quarter and appeared to have made the play of the game when he blocked Reid’s jumper with the score tied, 101-101, and a few seconds left. The ball caromed off the backboard, Rambis grabbed it and laid it in at the buzzer.

It was the seventh sellout (23,383) in 12 home games for the Hornets and gave them a 7-17 record.

“The Hornets outplayed us all night,” said Jordan, whose team had beaten the Lakers in their previous game. “The crowd really helped out in the end. It was nice to come home, but I wish we had played better.”

Rambis’ basket completed a strong fourth quarter for the Hornets.

“I couldn’t buy a basket early,” Rambis said. “I just grabbed the ball on the miss and put it in. The fans deserve a win like this. They really back us all the way.”

Cleveland 119, Seattle 107--The SuperSonics scored 8 points in the last 64 seconds of regulation at Richfield, Ohio, but only 2 in the 5-minute overtime.

After blowing a 6-point lead, the Cavaliers, scored the first 10 points in overtime, 4 by Larry Nance, who finished with 27 points. Cleveland improved its record to 18-5, best in the league.

“This shows we can win games, even when we don’t play smart down the stretch,” Nance said. “We knew we should not have let them catch us. We showed heart and character. We have people who can make big plays.”

Phoenix 119, Denver 107--One of the toughest assignments in sports is to beat a good team in back-to-back games.

The Suns, the surprise team in the West, did that against the Nuggets, a superior team.

With Armon Gilliam getting 27 points, the Suns followed Thursday night’s win at Denver by racing to their eighth consecutive victory at home.

The Suns led all the way, but when former Sun star Walter Davis led a Denver rally that cut the lead to 5 points with 4 minutes left, Kevin Johnson hit the shots that snuffed the rally.

Milwaukee 113, Dallas 101--Jay Humphries scored 7 points in a late 13-2 spurt at Milwaukee that enabled the Bucks to beat the Mavericks.

The Bucks, after building a 13-point lead, trailed, 89-84, when Humphries sparked the winning rally.

Terry Cummings had 30 points to give him 99 points in the Bucks’ last 3 games, all victories.

Portland 111, Golden State 107--The Trail Blazers are keeping the pressure on the Lakers in the Pacific Division. They won their fourth in a row, despite a scare from the Warriors at Portland.

Clyde Drexler, who had 38 in the win over the Warriors at Oakland Thursday night, came back with 35.

But the star was a former Laker reserve, Adrian Branch, who had a career-high 21 points. With the score tied, 107-107, Branch made a jumper with 33 seconds left to give the Blazers the win.

Atlanta 131, Indiana 114--Dominique Wilkins had 13 of his 28 points in the third quarter at Atlanta, and Moses Malone also had a big night for the Hawks.

Malone had 28 points and 15 rebounds as the Hawks handed the Pacers their 12th loss on the road without a victory.