NBA PLAYOFFS : Jordan Puts His Name in Lights as Bulls Win

NEW YORK —  Michael Jordan’s just-off-Broadway show at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night was a smash hit. So much for all those New York Knick fans who expected Jordan’s Windy City routine to be just a lot of hot air.

Jordan, who eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers with his spectacular last-second heroics in the deciding game of a National Basketball Assn. Eastern Conference quarterfinal Sunday, took his act on the road again in the opener of a best-of-seven Eastern semifinal. And with similarly spectacular results.

The 6-foot-6 Chicago Bulls superstar scored 34 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a 120-109 victory over the favored Knicks.

Jordan put the game into overtime with two free throws (he made all 11 he tried in the game) with 1 minute 15 seconds left, making it 103-103. Then he scored nine of his team’s 17 points in overtime and added a steal and an assist for good measure.

All this came in an atmosphere of both electricity and hostility. The Garden was sold out at 19,591. The newspapers and radio stations here have gone bonkers over the matchup--the balanced Pat Ewing-led New Yorkers against Chicago’s one-man game. The New York Daily News ran a huge headline on it’s back tabloid page that read: AIR WHO?

All of which Jordan answered on the court.

“We didn’t rattle, and we didn’t make dumb mistakes,” Jordan said afterward. “There’s still lots of talk about the last shot in Cleveland, but that’s over, and it’s not going to win us the next three games.”

The Knicks had an 18-4 spurt to take a 90-78 lead with just under eight minutes left.

“When I called timeout at 90-78,” Bull Coach Doug Collins said, “I told them we had gotten too hyper, gotten too out of character. I told them to calm down, to not try and get it all back at once.

“I also know that, once Michael Jordan breaks loose, there’s no stopping him.”

The Knicks will try here again Thursday night, when the curtain rises again on Air Who.

Notes

Bill Cartwright, former Knick center now holding that spot for the Bulls, was booed loudly here. He responded with 18 points and a career playoff high 14 rebounds. . . . Cartwright had a classic confrontation with Knick center Pat Ewing with just under 20 seconds left in regulation and the score 103-103. A loose ball went to the 7-1 Cartwright, who headed for a layup with his 7-foot nemesis, Ewing, after him. With the game on the line, Cartwright shot, appeared to be bumped and saw the layup fall off. No foul was called and both Cartwright and Coach Doug Collins stomped around the court in disgust. Afterward Cartwright said, “I was fouled, I was hit on the wrist, and I was very angry.” At the time of the non-call, Ewing had five fouls.