NBA ROUNDUP : With Ewing Leading the Way, Brawling Knicks Defeat Heat

Just 10 days after their last brawl at Phoenix, the New York Knicks squared off against a new opponent Friday night at Miami.

Patrick Ewing had 26 points and 22 rebounds as the Knicks ended the Heat’s 12-game home winning streak with a 123-107 victory.

But fighting and feuding overshadowed the victory.

With 4:20 left in the third quarter, Ewing hit Miami’s Grant Long in the jaw with an elbow, a blow that required four stitches and knocked Long out of the game.

It was part of a series of shoving incidents that resulted in 11 technical fouls, three flagrant fouls and the ejection of New York’s Doc Rivers.

The Knicks’ Greg Anthony, suspended for five games for his role in the Phoenix fight on March 23, said the altercations helped New York.

“Tonight was indicative of what happens to teams that try to institute actions against us,” Anthony said. “It’s not in their nature, and we thrive on emotion.”

When the Heat’s Keith Askins ran into Ewing as he passed the ball out of the low post, Ewing charged Askins, pushing him up against the press table. Players from both teams began to shove each other as four Miami police officers came onto the court.

Phoenix 118, Boston 114--The Suns should have known better.

With five minutes left at Boston Garden Friday night, Phoenix enjoyed a 16-point lead over the Celtics.

But Boston had entered the game as the NBA’s hottest team with a nine-game winning streak.

And, sure enough, with 39 seconds to play, the Celtics had pulled to within one of Phoenix.

But, thanks to Charles Barkley’s 37 points and two clutch free throws in the final seconds by Kevin Johnson, the Suns held on for the victory.

For Phoenix, the NBA’s best team with a 54-15 record, the victory was its sixth in a row. It was also the Suns’ sixth consecutive road victory, giving the team a franchise-record 24 victories away from home.

Portland 96, Philadelphia 91--Cliff Robinson scored 17 points and blocked a potential game-tying three-pointer by Clarence Weatherspoon with 13 seconds left to enable the Trail Blazers to clinch a playoff berth and send the 76ers to their sixth loss in a row.

Philadelphia, a winner of only one of its last 13 and four of its previous 30, led Portland, 53-45, at halftime, thanks in large measure to Jeff Hornacek’s 20 points, including a Spectrum-record five first-half three-pointers.

Hornacek was held to six points in the second half.

Robinson, playing in his team-record 315th consecutive game, came off the bench to contribute eight rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.

“He was a terror defensively the second half,” Trail Blazer Coach Rick Adelman said.

Weatherspoon had 27 points and 14 rebounds for Philadelphia.

Chicago 118, New Jersey 105--Michael Jordan scored 18 of his 40 points in the first quarter at Chicago and the Bulls cruised to their 10th victory in a row over the Nets.

Chicago opened the game with a 12-0 run, and never looked back.

Derrick Coleman led New Jersey with 30 points.

San Antonio 108, Minnesota 101--David Robinson scored 12 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter at San Antonio to lead the Spurs to a victory that put them one game back of the idle Houston Rockets in the race for the top spot in the Midwest Division.

The Timberwolves had been going for what would have been a franchise record-tying fourth consecutive victory.

Micheal Williams led Minnesota with 19 points and Christian Laettner had 16, but both players fouled out late in the game.

Detroit 109, Sacramento 100--Joe Dumars is hot and so are his Pistons.

Dumars had 35 points at Auburn Hills, giving him 73 in his last two games, and Detroit has won four of its last five, and six in a row at home to pull into playoff contention.

Dennis Rodman had 24 rebounds for the Pistons.

Walt Williams led the Kings with 29 points.

Indiana 118, Orlando 102--Sparked by Reggie Miller, the Pacers extended their winning streak at home to a club-record 11.

Indiana won despite 32 points by Nick Anderson and 28 points and 19 rebounds from Shaquille O’Neal.

Miller had three three-pointers in a 22-6 Pacer spurt to start the second half and finished with 24 points.

Golden State 134, Dallas 93--Billy Owens led the undermanned Warriors at Dallas with 29 points.

Latrell Sprewell added 26 points for Golden State, a team playing without injured Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Sarunas Marciulionis and Tyrone Hill.

Denver 116, Milwaukee 107--Rookie Bryant Stith had a career high 24 points for the Nuggets at Denver to help neutralize a career-high 30 points by the Bucks’ Todd Day, also a rookie.

Denver had 14 blocked shots, six of them by LaPhonso Ellis and four by Dikembe Mutombo, to give the Nuggets 479, surpassing by eight the team’s NBA record for blocks in a season. The franchise record is 539, set in 1975-76 when the team was in the ABA.