Camby Gives Performance Second to None

Round one in the battle of the NBA’s two top draft choices went to Marcus Camby.

Camby scored a team-high 23 points and blocked five shots to outshine Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson on Wednesday night and led the Raptors to their third victory in four games with a 110-98 victory over the 76ers at Toronto.

Camby, chosen second overall behind Iverson, is improving with each game. Spending much of the evening guarding Derrick Coleman, who outweighs him by almost 50 pounds, Camby showed no fear under the basket.

The Raptors had a franchise-high four players with at least 20 points. Clarence Weatherspoon led the 76ers, making 12 of 15 shots and finishing with a game-high 26 points.

While Camby said Iverson may be the “quickest player, one-on-one” that he’s seen, Iverson may have met his match in Damon Stoudamire.

“I was excited about playing against Damon because he is such a good player,” said Iverson, who scored 24 points. “But I didn’t look at it as playing against last year’s rookie of the year. I look at it as a game we needed to win and didn’t.”

Chicago 103, Miami 71--Toni Kukoc came off the bench to score 26 points at Chicago on a night when his teammates struggled somewhat with their shooting as the unbeaten Bulls maintained their mastery of the Heat.

Michael Jordan scored 28 points despite missing 15 of 23 shots and Dennis Rodman had 19 rebounds for the Bulls, who swept the Heat in last season’s playoffs. It was Miami’s second loss and first road defeat.

Including the playoffs, the Bulls are 33-5 against Miami since the Heat entered the NBA in 1988-89.

Utah 105, Sacramento 74--Karl Malone scored 22 points and Greg Ostertag added 14 points and 13 rebounds at Salt Lake City as the Jazz defeated the Kings for the 11th consecutive time.

Utah broke the 100-point barrier for the first time this season and held Sacramento to 34% shooting. Mitch Richmond led the Kings with 16 points, but he made only five of 18 shots. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf added 11 points.

Cleveland 81, Portland 70--With Terrell Brandon in a terrible shooting slump, Chris Mills made a crucial three-point basket with 81 seconds left as Cleveland almost blew a 21-point lead but held on to beat the visiting Trail Blazers. Brandon had only six points and made only one of 11 shots.

Detroit 95, Denver 94--After missing the last shot of regulation, Grant Hill made two free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Pistons the victory at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Hill led all scorers with 27 points and Joe Dumars added 17. Antonio McDyess and Dale Ellis each had 20 points for the Nuggets.

Boston 103, Atlanta 85--Dana Barros scored 13 of his 18 points in the Celtics’ 41-point first quarter for an easy victory over the visiting Hawks.

Barros came off the bench with 5:09 left in the first quarter and scored 13 points, which included three three-point baskets, giving the Celtics a 41-22 lead at the end of the quarter.

David Wesley added 16 for the Celtics, who had lost their last six games against the Hawks--including three in a row at home. Christian Laettner led Atlanta with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Steve Smith missed the game because of a sprained ankle

Washington 106, New Jersey 91--Chris Webber scored 26 points and the Bullets opened a big halftime lead by forcing 21 turnovers at East Rutherford, N.J. The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Bullets and kept the Nets and Coach John Calipari winless in four games.