The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 338

V'-1 ww kfr Try" rrorvTyy 2Q SUNDAY MARCH 10 1991 BASKETBALL VW" 3 1 IN6A hummim ranwmSfcrtftnrm 1 itniti ect Eastern Conference ATLANTIC DIVISION Team Pet GB Hawks 102 Heat 96 fg ft reb min m-a m-a o-t a pf pts Atlanta Home Away Streak Last 10 Heat backcourt taking a back seat to no one Douglas Rice taking games to new level rnmmmmr: By SHAUN POWELL Herald Sports Writer The Heat is one of only six teams with two 1000-point scorers in the starting back-court how they rank: (Scoring averages as of Friday) Friday Celtics 104 Clippers 98 fg ft reb Boston min m-a m-a o-t a pf pts Bird 42 8-18 3-3 0-4 4 2 22 Gamble 32 4-10 4-4 0-2 4 3 12 Parish 38 3-11 7-10 6-18 2 2 13 Brown 43 7-10 4-6 1-3 3 3 18 Lewis 38 7-17 4-4 5-10 5 4 18 Ch Smith 3 H) 1-2 0-0 1 1 1 McHale 34 4-9 7-7 1-3 4 2 16 Pinckney 10 2-3 0-0 2-4 0 2 4 Totals 240 35-7830-361544 23 19 104 fg ft reb Clippers min m-a m-a o-t a pf pts Manning 34 7-16 2-3 3-6 4 4 16 Smith 39 7-23 1-1 6-8 2 3 15 Polynice 41 6-9 1-1 4-8 1 3 13 Grant 31 3-8 0-0 2-3 7 1 6 Harper 40 14-29 7-8 0-8 4 4 36 Vaught 17 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 2 4 Garfand 17 3-8 0-0 2-3 3 3 6 Martin 2 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 Kimble 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bannister 11 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 3 0 Totals 24043-10011-13204 3 22 25 98 Boston 27 28 24 25-104 Los Angeles 20 28 26 24- 98 Percentages: Boston FG 449 FT 833 Los Angeles FG 430 FT 846 Three-point goals: Boston 4-10 400 (Bird 3-9 McHale 0-1) Los Angeles 1-5 200 (Harper 1-5) Team rebounds: Boston 13 Los Angeles Blocks: Boston 9 (Bird 3 McHale 3 Lewis 2 Gamble) Los Angeles 8 Polynice 2 Harper 2 Manning Bannister Smith Vaught) Turnovers Boston 17 Bird 7 Gamble 3 Brown 2 Lewis 2 McHale 2 Parish) Los Angeles 12 (Manning 3 Grant 3 Harper 3 Polynice Kimble Bannister) Steals: Boston 7 (Bird 2 Brown 2 Lewis 2 Parish) Los Angeles 7 (C Smith 3 Harper 2 Vaught Garland) Technical fouls: Boston 2 (illegal defense) Tickets sold: 15350 Time: 2 08 Kings 87 Cavaliers 79 fg ft reb Cleveland min m-a m-a a pf pts Nance 39 8-14 0-0 2-6 2 5 16 The offense has become guard-dependent both by design and by choice Center Rony shooting problems have prompted the club to seek other means of scoring And because guards Sherman Douglas and Glen Rice are having fine seasons they deserve to be the first options Miami has never relied on two players for such a scoring load The Douglas-Rice combo went four straight games with 20-plus points and in the last nine games one or the other has led the team in scoring It began after Seikaly tore cartilage in his right knee Dec 27 and underwent surgery HEAT VS KETS Golden State (485) Mitch Richmond (250) and Tim Hardaway (235) Dallas (405) Rolando Blackman (20 7) and Derek Harper (197) Portland (390) Clyde Drexler (216) and Terry Porter (174) Minnesota (389) Tony Campbell (207) and Pooh Richardson (182) Heat (355) Sherman Douglas (180) and Glen Rice (175) Houston (340) Kenny Smith (172) and Vernon Maxwell (168) 4:00 TODAY MIAMI ARENA SPORTSCHANNEL tinues to pass better in the post people will hesitate against him which will give him more one-on-ones Rony gets it back together have a nice For the moment then all attention is focused on the backcourt It helps Wohl said that the two are very different players Douglas gets his points off the dribble while Rice floats around the perimeter awaiting the open jumper Such diversity has made the Heat less predictable one of the main goals this season the scoring capabilities we both have it gives people problems guarding Rice said "If they play Sherman for the drive then open and vice-versa We complement each Rice said he and Douglas have developed a bond which makes the off-season negotiations between Douglas and the Heat even more important 1 unlikely Douglas will play elsewhere next season because a restricted free agent But if he does the recognition Douglas has developed with his teammates will be all for naught and the Heat will spend next season becoming familiar with another point game Sherman it feels like in his back Rice says just something there with us right missing 14 games In 33 games since injury only eight times has either Douglas or Rice failed to lead the club in points become more comfortable knowing where the shots are coming from and who wiU take Heat assistant coach Dave Wohl said And their continued success has been especially crucial with unpredictable shooting and Glen are the most consistent scorers we have right now" Wohl said always said that certain guys would emerge for us this Douglas (180) and Rice (175) surpassed 1000 points for the season Friday against Atlanta and both are averaging four points better than last season The duo is benefiting from shot selection Douglas leads the team with 51-percent shooting while Rice even though his game is 15-20 feet from the basket makes 47 percent Should Seikaly revert to his usual 18-point pace simply give the Heat which plays host to the New Jersey Nets at 4 pm today another option think he really wants to do Wohl said of Seikaly feel like he has carried his offensive load and frustrated If he con- Three-point goals: Cleveland 1-2 500 (Ferry 1-1 Valentine 0-1) Sacramento 4-6 667 (Les 2-3 Hansen 2-3) Team rebounds: Cleveland 8 Sacramento? Blocks: Cleveland 5 (Nance 3 Ehlo Williams) Sacramento 8 (Frederick 3 Wen-nington 3 Simmons Les) Turnovers: Cleveland 20 (Daugherty 3 Ehlo 3 Williams 3 Ferry 3 Valentine 2 Paddio 2 Nance Brown Morton Kerr) Sacramento 11 (Frederick 4 Hansen 3 Sparrow 2 Simmons Calloway) Steals: Cleveland 4 (Valentine Ehlo Paddio Ferry) Sacramento 9 (Wenmng-ton 3 Sparrow 2 Calloway 2 Simmons Frederick) Technical fouls: Ferry Sacramento 2 (illegal defense) Tickets sold: 17014 Time: 2-00 Bulls 99 Jazz 89 ft reb m-a o-t a pf pts Utah fl mm m-a Did your favorite team play Cal! (N (Broward) 689-3033 press 8 (North Palm Beach) and 278-3033 press 8 (South Palm Beach) Today's access code is 75 Dial 6785 for NBA information LEAGUE LEADERS THROUGH FRIDAY'S GAMES Celtics clinch playoffs TeleHerald at 373-4636 Dade) 527-4636 Nets starters immm TODAY: HEAT VS KETS Percentages: Atlanta FG 448 FT 733 Miami FG 458 FT 633 Three-point goals: Atlanta 29 222 (Rivers 2-5 Webb 0-1 Koncak 0-1 Wilkins 0-2) Miami 1-7 143 (Rice 1-4 Coles 0-1 Burton 0-2) Team rebounds: Atlanta 8 Miami 10 Biocks: Atlanta 4 (Malone 2 Rivers Ferrell) Miami 5 (Burton Long Seikaly Kessler Edwards) Steals: Atlanta 7 (Battle 2 Wilkins McCormick Rivers Webb Ferrell) Miami 7 (Douglas 2 Edwards 2 Long Seikaly Coles) Turnovers: Atlanta 16' (Battle 4 Wilkins 2 Willis 2 Rivers 2 Webb 2 Malone 2 McCormick Moncrief) Miami 21 (Ooug- las 5 Rice 5 Seikaly 3 Burton 2 Coles 2 Edwards Kessler Long team) Technical fouls: Atlanta (illegal defense) Miami (illegal defense) Flagrant fouls: Koncak Malone Tickets sold: 15008 Time: 2 14 Magic 129 Nuggets 113 Denver Orlando 29 32 322-113 39 39 32 27-129 Percentages: Denver FG 417 FT 657 Orlando FG 515 FT 821 Three-point goals: Denver 4-20 200 (Adams 3-12 Liberty 1-2 Farmer 0-1 Williams 0-2 Jackson 6-3) Orlando 6-9 667 Scott 4-5 Skiles 2-3 i ley 0-1 Team rebounds: Denver 12 Orlando 10 Blocks: Denver 8 (Rasmussen 5 Williams 2 Woolridge) Orlando 6 (N Anderson 2 Scott Kite Smith Acres) Turnovers: Denver 11 (Woolridge 5 Adams 3 Williams Lane Anderson) Orlando 16 (Scott 3 Turner 3 Skiles 3 Kite 2 Acres 2 Anderson Reynolds Wiley) Steals: Denver 7 (Rasmussen 2 Liberty Woolridge Adams Jackson Farmer) Orlando 1 (Smith) Tickets sold: 15077 Time: 2:04 Confident Dennis Scott scores 40 ORLANDO (AP) Confidence is a dangerous weapon in the hands sharpshooter Dennis Scott start to feel like going said Scott of his career-high 40-point performance as the Orlando Magic beat the Denver Nuggets 129-113 on Friday night got that feeling and I got my confidence going reading screens now and working hard to get my Scott hit 16 of 22 shots including 4 of 5 from 3-point range as the Magic improved to 7-6 since the All-Star break knows me for my 3-pointers but I want to be a more complete Scott said want to be Magic coach Matt Guokas said his recent success is the result of running picks to free Scott Dennis credit for hitting the Guokas said give our screeners credit and our passers credit delighted starting to happen been gunning for this since the beginning of the Scott Skiles had 20 points and 20 assists for the Magic and Jeff Turner added 20 points Michael Adams led Denver with 27 points The Nuggets led only twice Friday night both times in the first 10 minutes of the first quarter After Adams gave Denver a 27-25 lead with two minutes left in the first period Orlando went on an 18-6 run Michael Ansley came off the bench in the second quarter to trigger the run with 13 points and four rebounds The Nuggets got as close as 83-81 on an Orlando Woolridge layup with 6:21 remaining in the third period The Magic led 94-89 four minutes later when Adams left the game for a brief rest By the time he got back in the game 2:26 later Denver was down by 11 Orlando shot 515 percent from the field making 50 of 97 shots The Magic now are 13-1 in games in which made at least 50 percent of their shots Scott has averaged 25 points a game for Orlando in his last seven games Denver passed Scott with its third pick last June instead selecting Chris Jackson Nuggets coach Paul Westhead who hired yet seemed to be frustrated by the they have Larry Bird Kevin McHale and Robert Parish on the floor they have three All-Stars and maybe three Hall of only points of the fourth quarter were followed by eight Celtics free throws in the last 1:09 to hold off the Clippers Ron Harper led the Clippers with 36 points 1 1 in the fourth quarter was his usual self a real thorn in our Boston coach Chris Ford said you check the Cleveland Cavalier box scores against the Celtics see that he continually gave us The Clippers acquired Harper from the Cavaliers last season Los Angeles made several runs at Boston getting as close as two points several times in the second half only to have the Celtics pull away With four minutes left Horace Grant scored to cut lead to 91-89 before a Robert Parish tip-in and 3-pointer gave the Celtics some breathing room Parish had 18 of 44 rebounds and scored 13 points The Clippers had three players with eight rebounds each for a total of 43 The guards Dee Brown and Reggie Lewis each scored 18 points and McHale added 16 For the Clippers Danny Manning had 16 points and Charles Smith 15 Totals 240 41-81 15-19 12-38 23 17 99 Utah Chicago 25 26 22 16-89 23 23 20 33-99 Percentages: Utah FG 500 FT 733 Chicago FG 506 FT 789 Three-point goals: Utah 2-3 667 (Stock-ton 2-3) Chicago 2-4 500 (Pippen 2-2 Paxson 0-1 Hodges 0-1 rids: Team rebounds: Utah 5 Chicago 5 Blocks: Utah 2 (K Malone Bailey) Chi cago 7 (Pippen 4 Grant 2 Levingston) Turnovers: Utah 16 Stockton 5 Eaton 3 Malone 2 Bailey 2 Malone 2 Brown Toolson) Chicago 12 (Pippen 3 Cartwright 2 Armstrong 2 Grant Paxson Jordan King Perdue) Steals: Utah 9 (J Malone 5 Toolson 2 Stockton Rudd) Chicago 10 (Jordan 3 Pippen 2 Grant 2 Paxson 2 Armstrong) Tickets sold: 18676 Time: 1:57 Suns 117 Bullets 91 raaaaaBiaiBWMi LATE FRIDAY early and although I looked for the pass first the shots were open so I took Bird said this was a very poor game for us but we managed to hold Even in losing for the fourth consecutive time Los Angeles coach Mike Schuler had good things to say have zero complaints with the way our team played We played hard and gave a full Schuler said tti ih im3- Ali-Star break Fourteen players have established career scoring highs against Denver this season SPANKED: In four starts against Denver this season Orlando point guard Scott Skiles has averaged 24 8 points and 16 5 assists Skiles had 20 of each in Friday's 129-113 victory over the Nuggets STONES: 99-89 victory over Utah on Friday was the 1000th in the history of the franchise STREAKS: 99-69 victory over Utah on Friday was the 22nd straight at Chicago Stadium Washington's 117-91 loss to Phoenix was the Bullets' eighth straight overall and fifth straight at home SHOOTING BLANKS: Sacramento rookie forward Lionel Simmons was 3-fo r-22 from the field Friday against Cleveland SPEAKING: "Some of the things aren't correctable Looking at what we have and what the other teams have there's not much you can do Washington coach Wes Unseld lamenting the talent gap between his Bullets and the better teams Phoenix beat Washington 117-91 on Friday mmm Llli ODDS AND ENDS Tipoff: 4 pm Miami Arena (sold out) Television: SportsChannel Radio: WQAM (560)WPBG (1290 Palm Beach Gardens) WRFM (830 Spanish) WKIZ (1500 Key West) Favorite: Heat by New Jersey injuries: Questionable: Derrick Coleman (thumb) Doubtful: Chris Dudley (thigh) Out: Roy Hinson (knee) Heat injuries: Out: Jon Sundvold (pneumonia) Scouting report: a battle of the basement this afternoon the loser has sole possession of last place in the Atlantic Division The Nets are coming off a winless Texas trip and have lost 1 1 straight road games But New Jersey had double-digit third-quarter leads in Dallas and Houston before losing and played the Spurs fairly close despite losing Coleman and playing without Dudley who had overtaken Sam Bowie at starting center fg ft reb Heat starters Associated Press Larry Bird scored 22 points and hit a key 3-pointer but he particularly pleased play very well tonight but been consistent said Bird of the 104-98 victory over the host Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night that assured Boston off a spot in the playoffs only problem has been holding onto our Early in game the Clippers defense sagged and Bird attempted four 3-pointers in the first quarter connecting on only one seemed to sag on me STARS: Dennis Scott Magic scored a season-high 40 points as Orlando defeated Denver 129-113 The rookie forward was 16 of 22 from the field including 4-for-5 from 3-point range Michael Jordan Bulls scored 17 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as Chicago defeated Utah 99-89 Jordan added three steals as the Bulls won their 22nd straight home game SIDELINED: Sacramento dressed a league-minimum eight players in its 97-89 victory over Cleveland on Friday The Kings played without forwards Antoine Carr (bruised left knee) Way-man Tisdale (sprained tendons) and Anthony Bonner (strained tendons) guards Travis Mays (strained tendons) and Steve Colter (left ankle sprain) and centers Duane Causwell (broken nose) and Ralph Sampson (sprained tendons) Sampson Tisdale and Bonner are on the injured list SCORING: Phoenix rookie forward Cedric Ceballos had 20 points in 26 minutes the Suns' 117-91 victory at Washington on Friday Ceballos is averaging 37 7 points per 48 minutes second in the league in points per minute to scoring leader Michael Jordan SUPERB IN DEFEAT: Los Angeles guard Ron Harper had a season-high 36 points and eight rebounds Friday in the Clippers' 104-98 loss to Boston SEE YOU IN MAY: 104-98 victory over the LA Clippers on Friday clinched a playoff spot for the Celtics They are the first club to clinch a berth this season STATS: Orlando is 7-6 since the Chen Liang-hsi wins golf title JAKARTA Indonesia (AP) Chen Liang-hsi of Taiwan won the $150000 Indonesia Open Golf Tournament the fifth leg of the Asian Circuit with an even-par 72 Saturday for a 11-under-par 277 Chen started the front nine by bogeying the par-4 first and par-3 fifth holes He then bird-ied the par-4 sixth hole but had another bogey on the par-3 eighth hole On the back nine Chen ranked fourth on the Asian Circuit shot four birdies against two bogeys Frankie Minoza of the Philippines fired a 2-under-par 70 to place second two strokes behind Chen Taiwanese compatriots Kuo Chien-hsiung Li Wen-sheng and Wang Ter-chang shared third place with Toms David of the United States with 281s HOT: Miami made 13 of its first 15shots including nine straight NOT: The Heat once again cracked the 20-turnover plateau (21) UNSUNG HERO: Sherman Douglas had seven rebounds tying a career high STARTERS SCORING: Hawks 72 Heat 70 BENCH SCORING: Hawks 30 Heat 26 SIDELINES Phoenix Washington Percentages: Phoenix FG 480 FT 864 Washington FG 384 FT 737 Three-point goals: Phoenix 27 286 (Hornacek 2-3 Chambers 0-1 McDaniel 0-1 Maierle0-1 Ceballos 0-1) Washington 1-4 250 (Workman 1-3 Eackles 0-1) Team rebounds: Phoenix 15 Washington 2 Blocks: Phoenix 7 (McDaniel 3 Lang 2 West Knight) Washington 10 (Jones 5 3 King Ellison 3 King Foster) Turnovers: Phoenix 11 (Ceballos 4 Lang 2 Chambers McDaniel West Maierle Rambls) Washington 8 (King 3 Ellison 2 Workman 2 Walker) Steals: Phoenix 3 (Hornacek Maierle Ceballos) Washington 7 (Williams 2 Jones Ellison Workman English Eackles) Ticketssold: 15311 Time: 1:54 Jansen wins 2 races INZELL Germany (AP) Dan Jansen of the United States won two World Cup speed-skating races Saturday the 500 and 1000 meters on the first day of competition Also on Saturday Soviet skater Igor Schelesovksi captured the World Cup title in the 1000 meters by placing second behind Jansen Jansen skated the 500 meters in 3682 seconds and the 1000 meters in 1:1417 Schelesovski finished 24 seconds behind Jansen in the 500 Third was another Soviet athlete Andrei Bachvalov with a time of 3716 Three-pomt goals: Rice 47-112 Sundvold 15-35 Coles 6-28 Edwards 430 Askins 3-12 Burton 3-21 Douglas 3-21 Long 1-2 Seikaly 1-3 Davis 0-1 Thompson 0-2 Kessler 0-3 Steals: Edwards 94 Long 91 Douglas 89 Rice 77 Coles 56 Burton 54 Seikaly 32 Thompson 19 Kessler 17 Davis 13 Askins 10 Sundvold 7 Ogg 5 Blocks: Seikaly 61 Thompson 40 Edwards 29 Long 29 Ogg 23 Rice 22 Davis 21 Kessler 21 Burton 17 Coles 10 Askins 10 Douglas 2 The Heat established a club record in the first quarter with 1 2 assists the most for a quarter Douglas and Glen Rice both cracked the 1000-point barrier this season Moses Malone the only active player with ABA experience insists that he still has it still one of the top five centers in the league" Malong said "I still got some stuff I still got some show in me" Malone who had 1 4 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes put himself in the company of Brad Daugherty Patrick Ewing Akeem Olajuwon and David Robinson Said the Heat's Dave Wohl: is An eight-minute stretch of the first half broadcast on radio station WQAM because someone inadvertently pulled the connecter cables inside Miami Arena However because two timeouts were called during that stretch only three minutes of action was missed The first afternoon game in Miami Arena history today vs New Jersey was announced as a sellout Ron Rothstein missed his third straight game with the flu and once again was replaced by Dave Wohl against the Hawks Rothstein is questionable tor the Nets HG indicates high game for season COMINGUP.