The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 36

C-8 Sundy, February 24, 1991 SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER A MdMl ol the San F-Mioito Sunday mil ea imwucle 1 NBA i 'x JOHN HILLYER Hi PRO BASKETBALL Mis rely on me-mniain same Former Warrior Teagle is back from his L. A. low 9 W-f Qf'' 7 3 handled. He came to me and asked me what did I think, if I wanted to II do it. It wasn't like you wake up and read about it in the paper.

"He actually told me he wouldn't trade me unless it was to a good team. When he mentioned we didn't have to talk Jft anymore." Not that Teagle never looks )( back. He does. A lot. "I like L.A.," he said, "but I spent so much time up in the Bay i Area, I'm still more used to that, The fans are different, too.

It's a totally different atmosphere. i "The fans in the Bay Area are in it from the time the ball goes up. The Laker fans start getting into ifc about the start of the second With his minutes down, though, and with no more of those forwards, pounding on him every night, Teagle sees his career lasting a bit longer than it might have. "I feel fresh," he said. "I feel like I just got out of camp.

When the playoffs come around, I think I'll be ready. The wear and tear is not PSppemi for the Bullets, including their last seven points. But it wasn't enough to prevent Washington from losing its ninth game in the last 11. New York moved lv games ahead of the Bullets in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The victory also continued the Knicks' strange home-road saga: They are now 12-14 on the road, eighth-best in the NBA, and 11-17 at home, the league's worst.

No NBA team in 14 years has finished with a better record on the road than at home. 103, Nets 90: Charles Barkley had 30 points and 12 rebounds and Ron Anderson scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as visiting Philadelphia won for the fourth straight Trailing by 11 at the half and behind, 63-53, with 8:32 remaining in the third quarter, the 76ers scored 16 straight points, six by Armon Gilliam and five each by Barkley and Hersey Hawkins, to take the lead for good at 69-63. The Nets, who won their previous three at home, closed to 77-76 on Drazen Petrovic's jumper with 10:21 to play. But Philadelphia then reeled off 20 of the next 26 points, nine by Barkley and seven by Anderson, to open a 97-82 advantage with 1:51 left. Hawkins finished with 21 points for the 76ers, while Gilliam added 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Derrick Coleman paced the Nets with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Hawks 122, Mavericks 107: Dominique Wilkins had 31 points and 14 rebounds as Atlanta stretched its franchise-record home-court winning streak to 19 games. The Hawks were in control after using a 10-0 run in the first quarter to erase a 15-14 deficit. Wilkins started the spurt with a layup with 5:28 left in the period and ended it with a tip-in 2:34 before the end of the quarter. Spud Webb, who scored 26 points, hit an 18-footer 34 seconds before halftime to give Atlanta its biggest lead of the game, 60-40.

Bucks 118, Cavaliers 103: Danny Schayes scored a season-high 31 points and host Milwaukee started the fourth quarter with 10 consecutive points. Fred Roberts added 23 points to match his season high and Dale Ellis had 20 for the Bucks. Lester Conner tied a career-high with 18 assists while playing in place of Jay Humphries, who has a groin pull. Schayes, whose previous scoring high this season was 26, also had 12 rebounds. Suns 120, SuperSonics 110: Tom Chambers scored 35 points as visiting Phoenix spoiled Benoit Benjamin's debut with Seattle.

The 7-foot Benjamin, acquired in a trade this week with the Los Angeles Clippers, had nine points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes as a backup for Seattle starter Michael Cage. if Forward 16 of 17 for 43 points in romp over Hornets ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO Scottie Pippen had a game even teammate Michael Jordan could envy. Pippen made 16 of 17 field goals and scored a career-high 43 points Saturday night as the Chicago Bulls rolled to their ninth consecutive victory, 129-108, over the Charlotte Hornets. 1 was real active and was able to get into transition," Pippen said. "I was using my speed in the open pM and got some easy baskets.

I "wattaking the shots they gave me. My teammates were looking for jme. It was almost a perfect game." The win also was the 18th Straight for the Bulls at Chicago Stadium, where they are 23-3. The Hornets dropped their eighth consecutive road contest. Jordan scored 29 points and Horace Grant had 20 points on 3-for-8 shooting and 17 rebounds for Chicago, while Charlotte was led by Kendall Gill's 20 points.

Pippen, who twice scored 11 consecutive Bulls points in the game, had a season-high for a Chicago player, surpassing Jordan's best, of 42 and his own previous career-high of 34 against Golden State in December. ''Scottie Pippen had one of those nights when everything was clicking for him," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "He was anticipating well and read the floor well. It was a beautiful piece of work." was just one of those nights when one guy steps up and beats you," Hornets coach Gene Littles said, "Pippen had a great night and Michael had his usual night." The Bulls, leading by just three points at halftime, scored the first 10 of the second half before Mike Gminski got the Hornets' first basket at 8:21 to cut the deficit to 71-60. Two free throws by Pippen, who scored 13 points in the third quarter, completed a 24-9 run that gave the Bulls an 85-67 lead.

The Bulls held a 94-79 advantage at the end of the third quarter. The Hornets played without starting guard Rex Chapman, who sat out because of a sprained right ankle incurred in Friday night's victory over Detroit. Knicks 104, Bullets 101: Trent Tucker's 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left capped a New York comeback in which the Knicks rallied from a 21 -point third-quarter deficit in Landover, Md. Charles Oakley had 22 points and a season-high 20 rebounds for New York, which trailed, 69-48, with 10:19 left in the third quarter. The rally was fueled by Gerald Wil-kins, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the third period.

Bernard King scored 39 points ASSOCIATED PRESS chases down a loose ball as 41-41 tie, Denver shooting 57 per cent, Golden State 55. Adams, the Nuggets' 5-11 (listed) mighty mite, led them with 15 points. From then on, the biggest lead by either team was Denver's 10-pointer, 104-94, with 5:07 left in the third quarter. But the Warriors wiped that out before the period was over, taking a 116-113 lead into the final 12 minutes. If there was a bright spot in all of this, it would have to be the play of Mario Elie, a journeyman guard from the CBA Albany Patroons whom the Warriors signed to a 10-day contract on Saturday.

He played 27 productive minutes, scoring 14 points. The 6-5 Elie (pronounced was averaging 24.4 points and shooting 53.5 percent for the Patroons. He took the injured Saru-nas Marciulionis' roster spot. Elie has been around several blocks. Nelson, then operating the Milwaukee Bucks, drafted the New York City native out of Massachusetts' American International College in the seventh round in 1985, but he failed to make the team and embarked on a career that has taken him to Portugal, Argentina, Ireland and, briefly this season, to the Philadelphia 76ers as well as the CBA.

"What can I say? I've been looking for a guy like him for a long time," Nelson said. "I sure like what I saw on first impression. Our style of play is obviously conducive to his style of play." NOTES: Hardaway's three assists matched his season low, established in the Jan. 12 Phoenix game from which he was ejected after only 14 minutes. This time you could blame a tough official scorer Hill injured his thumb Friday night when he ran into Utah's Karl Malone.

The rookie forward could be available for Tuesday's game with Orlando in Oakland, according to trainer Tom Abdenour Denver guard Todd Lichti may skip the rest of the season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Jan. 28. "Maybe it's kind of dumb to come back and play 10 or 15 games and possibly risk the next eight years," said the former Stanford star, who originally had planned a March return The Warriors are 4-31 here DENVER Can shooting be too easy for a player? It would seem to be a contradiction in terms, but that has been the case with Terry Teagle in his role with the Lakers. The 6-foot-5 Teagle, whom the Warriors traded to L.A. before the season for a first-round draft choice, had been one of the NBA's two or three shortest full-time forwards the last two years in Don Nelson's motion offense.

He also had been one of Golden State's top three scorers. So Teagle had gotten used to drawing a lot of defensive attention, mostly from bigger players, and to getting his own shots much of the time. And he had thrived on it, averaging a career-best 16.1 points and 6hooting 48 percent last season. With the Warriors Terry Teagle getting bigger, though, Teagle's minutes were certain to shrink. A trade was in his best interests, and the Lakers seemed like the ideal setting for his uptempo style.

But there have been problems. The Lakers under new coach Mike Dunleavy don't push the ball as relentlessly as they used to, or as the Warriors did. Teagle is getting fewer minutes, and fewer shooting chances when he is on the floor. And he's now in the backcourt, which gives him more open shots but less chance for creative ones. "When you're not that first or second option on a team," Teagle said, "that makes a difference.

You don't get as many shots and you don't get a chance to get into your rhythm like you do playing in, say, a Don Nelson system, with the real wide-open-type "We run when it's there, and when it's not there we've got guys that we can post up: James (Worthy), Sam (Perkins), Vlade (Divac). It's totally different from the system I played in at Golden State. It just took time for me to get used to shooting wide-open shots instead of having guys all over me." Teagle is getting there, gradually. As the weekend began, he was averaging only 8.9 points and shooting just 42.8 percent, and his average minutes were down from last season's 29 to 17.6. But considering he was shooting 37.9 percent when the calendar year ended, he'll take it.

Although no less than Magic Johnson took a $100,000 salary cut so the Lakers could fit Teagle under their payroll, he says the only pressure he felt came from within. "Everybody was telling me I was pressing too hard," Teagle said. "Magic told me just to relax, that everybody knew what I could do, and just go out and play. I wanted to do so well right off the bat, things just didn't fall my way. I thought they expected the same thing I gave Nellie, which was 15-20 points a night, and that's not the case with this team." To make matters worse, at the very beginning the Lakers were depicted as Team Turmoil after getting off to a 2-5 start.

But Teagle insists none of them lost faith in Dunleavy. "From day one in camp, we knew we had a good team. I think we were concentrating Mike Dunleavy so much on getting the defensive system down that we didn't just go out and play basketball, like a team that had been together naturally would. We were thinking more than just playing on reaction." Since then, of course, the Lakers have been the league's it test team, and for the first time in his 10-year career, Teagle has a realistic shot at a championship ring. For that, he thanks Nelson.

"From the first day that Nellie and I talked alxut the trade," he said, "I was real pleased the way the whole situation was being 4t!" 1 741 4 Michael Adams, who scored 41 points, Warriors' Larry Robinson looks on. WARRIORS from C-l Denver rolls after Hardaway ejected daway his first in the third quarter. It was deserved, Hardaway said. Warriors coach Don Nelson addressed the subject cautiously. "It hurt our chances a great deal," he noted.

Nelson was upset with the loss not only of the game but also of forward Tom Tolbert, who apparently tore a muscle in his right arch in the second quarter. "He'll be out for a while, it looks like," Nelson said, adding he'd explore the possibility of activating rookie center Les Jepsen off the injured list. Adams scored 41 points 11 after Hardaway's ejection and added 10 assists to lead the Nug gets. Orlando Woolridge tossed in 34 points, shooting 14-for-17 and making all four of his fourth-quar ter shots. Chris Mullin's 37 led the Warriors.

Nelson started a small lineup, with 6-foot-8 Tolbert at center, Mitch Richmond moved from guard to forward and Kevin Prit-chard making his first pro start, opening in the backcourt with Hardaway. But Denver's 7-foot, 6-10, 6-9 front line of Blair Rasmussen, Joe Wolf and Woolridge took advantage, and Nelson went to 6-10 Jim Petersen for Tolbert 4Vi minutes into the game. And when Petersen rested, 7-foot Alton Lister, the Warriors' usual starting center, went in. The Nuggets ended up dominating the boards, 58-41, getting the biggest contributions from bench-men Jerome Lane (11) and Greg Anderson (10). The Warriors were at a disadvantage there with the absence not only of Tolbert but also 6-9 Tyrone Hill, who stayed home with a sprained right thumb.

Golden State had won here on opening night, 162-158, the teams setting an NBA record that still stands for combined points in a four-quarter game. And they started off in this one as if they meant to break it. The first quarter ended in a rowed it down to three: The Marks Brothers, Three-Mendous and Run TMC. After a final deliberation set to the theme from the game show "Jeopardy," Mullin pointed to Run TMC and the trio agreed on the new nickname. there like it was." He almost sounded as if he missed it.

Potpourri The Warriors and retired Rear Admiral Robert Toney, president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, will play hosts at Tuesday's Orlando game to 100 spouses of Bay Area men and women serving in the Persian GulfJ The Warriors will also host children of people stationed in the Middle East at a team practice Saturday At the other end of the spectrum from last week's listing ol heavies: the boring good guys. Like Chicago's Craig Hodges, who hasplayed his entire, 610-game Craig Hodges career without i drawing one technical toul, tne longest active streak. Next in line: Indiana's VernJ Fleming, 0-for-519. OK, anybody who can drain 19 straight in 3-point contest, as Hodges did, can't be all boring You have to i wonder if Dale Ellis wasn't suddenly more marketable for the Seattle SuperSonics because of his; impending divorce proceedings In his first four games as Charlotte's starting point guard, rookie Kendall Gill averaged 13 points and six assists and shot 46.5 percent. Before then he'd been shooting 43.7.

Hey, it's a start. Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins and former coach Mike Fratello drew seats across the aisle from each other on a flight out of Charlotte after the Ail-Star Game. Wilkins changed seats When the trade deadline passed Thursday, a number of teams wound up stuck with players who will become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Like, for instance, the Orlando Magic, whose Scott Skiles wants $4.8 million for three years while the 1 Scott Skiles Magic isoffering $3.4 million. And; can the Sonics, who face the prospect of satisfying Benoit Benjamin, also afford to keep Ricky Pierce, who's clamoring for large dollars himself? Especially when they have Eddie Johnson, another veteran "sixth man" type? It should be an interesting offseason Hmmm: The Dallas Mavericks are 2-0 against the Warriors but 2-7 against expansion teams Sacramento coach Dick Motta on his rookie forward, Lionel Simmons: "He reminds me so much of Chet Walker it's scary." Walker helped carry Motta's Bulls to the brink of the NBA Finals 16 years ago before the eventual-champion Warriors upset them.

1-900-369-1313 A reader eervtoe of the San Frenches Examiner ft. i L. i i HUM -a WARRIORS F0 A FT A 0 TB A Pf PTS Mullin 45 13-19 10-11 51 3 2 37 Redmond 37 8-23 5-5 2-7 0 3 23 Tolherl 6 2-2 1-10-10 1 5 Pritchaid 33 7-14 0-0 1-4 3 4 5 Hatclaway 32 11-21 3-3 1-6 3 4 26 Petersen 9 2-5 2-4 1-5 0 1 6 ftotunson 11 2-4 1-2 1-2 0 2 5 lister 22 2-2 1-2 2-8 1 5 5 lie 27 4 5 6 8 1-1 0 5 14 HiuQins 18 1-4 7-10 0-1 2 6 9 ToUH 62-W 36-46 41 12 32 145 DENVER FG A FflM QTfl A PF PTS Woolridae 39 14-17 6-8 3-5 2 3 34 Woll 31 5-8 1-2 2-7 4 4 11 Hasmussen 21 2-8 00 3 7 1 6 4 Adams 36 11-24 16-18 0-5 10 1 41 Williams 34 7-16 7 7 2-6 5 6 23 lane 18 04 1-2 4-11 0 4 1 Cook 9 00 2-2 2-3 0 1 2 liberlv 10 4-7 0-0 1-2 0 3 8 Anderson 26 4-12 6 10 4-10 0 4 14 Jactson 16 5-9 2-4 1 1 3 12 Tot.H 82-105 41-63 88 23 24 150 fJ hJf J- T- T- 4x 1- I nil I its' -impiitfiftnx ''I ''y-'' )mX i I 1 NICKNAME from C-l Run TMC: Rap masters of NBA morning in preparation for that night's game with the Utah Jazz, Mullin, Hardaway and Richmond tackled the chore of selecting their nickname. With Warriors television announcer Steve Albert assisting, the group ran through a list that contained more than a few strange suggestions. Among the nicknames rejected by the trio were The Totally Tubular Trio; Joint Chiefs of Stats; Golden State Threeway; The Pointer Brothers; Barrage-A-Trois; Heat, Meat and Sweet; and The Three That Be.

One of the wildest entries, a bit too graphic to make the final 60, was The Bkwd-thirsty Gymrats from Hell. The suggestions entered most often were The Golden Trio, The Three Buckate ers and The Golden Triangle. As they went through the 50 finalists, the trio was repeatedly amazed by the weirdness of the entries. "If this is the best, I'd hate to see the others," said Mullin at one point. When Heat, Meat and Sweet EXAMINERFRAN ORTIZ Peter Elman and hi infv Lisa celebrate after Warning he had the winning i ntrx in The liumiiner's Name the Warriors' Trio contest.

Wtrrlort .41 34 41 145 Dwivn .41 38 34 37 ISO EG prcMg: Warriors 52 5 Denver 49 5 FT prcnl8M: Warriors 78 3 Denver 77 4 3-polnl gotll: Warriors 5-14 357 (Hicnmona 2-3 Munui 1-2 Pnl-rnard 1-3 Hardaway 1-3 HiqqinsO-3) Denvw 5 15 333 (Adams 3 9 Williams 2-4 LilieMyO 1 Jackson 0 1) Ttam raboundr Warriors 12 Denver 11 Blocked hott: Warriors 4 llislur 3 Nooirison) Denve' 4 iHws niussen Adams Cook Anderson) Turnovers: Ad'no's 21(hchmond5 Hiygms4 Mulnn3 Pritcna'o3 Ma'oavtav 2 lister 2 Tolhert Petersen) Denver 17 fWooiiiOye 4 Adams 4 Jarkson3 Hasmussen 2 Wolt Williams lane And-rsoni Sttilt: Wamors 11 iwn3 nno'id 2 Pnlciwd? Harddav2 lister Hoginsl Denver t2IAd-ams 4 Wnolndqe 2 itierty 2 Anderson 2 Hasmussen Williams! Ttchntcat louli: Warriors Mullm 610tirst Hardaway 50 tnird Hardaway 4 Illegal d-fense: None Official: Rennetl Satvatore Derrick Stal-lord Noianhne Attendance: 14 519 whs suggested, Mullin quickly claimed Heat and Hardaway took Sweet. That left Richmond howling that there was no way he wanted to be known as Meat. With that suggestion and most of the others rejected, the trio nar.