NBA Playoffs : Jordan’s 44 Not Enough to Finish Off Cavaliers

Don’t try telling Ron Harper that Michael Jordan wasn’t healthy Thursday night.

“Mike got 44 points, so he’s healthy,” Harper said after he blocked Jordan’s shot and then stole the ball from Dave Corzine in the closing seconds to help the Cleveland Cavaliers stay alive in the National Basketball Assn. playoffs with a 97-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls at Richfield, Ohio.

The victory tied their first-round playoff series, 2-2, with the deciding game to be played Sunday in Chicago.

“People expected this would be over by Game 3 of the series, like Chicago was going to do whatever they wanted,” Harper said. “They gave us no credit at all. And even though we’ve won the last two games and the playoffs are even, we still have to win more, and that motivates us.”

Jordan missed practice a day earlier because of a strained muscle in his left side and left the game momentarily in the third quarter after grasping his side in pain.

“He wasn’t 100%? Y’all quit babying Michael, you hear,” Harper said with a smile as he soaked his own sprained right ankle in ice.

“He played with a lot of pain, but this is the time of year when everybody plays with pain. I was playing with pain, and nobody felt sorry for me.”

Harper scored 30 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. His two free throws with seven seconds left sealed the victory.

Jordan said the injury limited his mobility.

“I felt if I played, even if I wasn’t at 100%, I would help the ballclub,” he said. “Coach (Doug Collins) asked me if I was ready to play. Mentally, I was ready to play, and now we’ve got two days off.”

The Bulls, who trailed by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, took an 87-86 lead with 3:13 left when Horace Grant hit a free throw.

Cleveland’s Mark Price and Chicago’s Scottie Pippen each made a basket before Larry Nance sank a double-pump layup and was fouled. He made the free throw to put the Cavaliers ahead for good, 91-89, with 1:58 left.

Nance and Harper blocked shots by Grant and Jordan on the Bulls’ next two trips down the floor. Harper’s two free throws made it 93-89 with 44 seconds left.

Jordan hit two free throws with 35 seconds remaining to make it 93-91. But Mike Sanders hit a 10-footer in the lane to widen the lead to four with 16 seconds left.

Harper stole the ball from Corzine with 10 seconds to play and was fouled by Jordan, his sixth. Harper’s free throws sealed it.

Dallas 107, Houston 97-- All-Star forward Mark Aguirre scored 38 points, including a club-record 27 in the third quarter, as the Mavericks beat the Rockets at Houston to wrap up their first-round series.

The Mavericks, who won, 3-1, had to overcome a 40-point, 15-rebound performance by the Rockets’ Akeem Olajuwon to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. Dallas will play the winner of the Seattle-Denver series.

Seattle 127, Denver 117--Xavier McDaniel scored 27 points, and Tom Chambers added 25 as the SuperSonics beat the Nuggets at Denver to tie their first round series, 2-2.

The decisive Game 5 of the Western Conference series will be played in Denver Saturday.

Rookie Derrick McKey chipped in with 18 points, and Dale Ellis had 17 for the Sonics. For Denver, Jay Vincent scored 28 points, Michael Adams 22 and Alex English 20.

The Sonics scored the final eight points in the last 1:19 after Adams’ scoop shot cut the Seattle lead to 119-117 with 1:41 left.