Webber’s Return Is Too Much for Rockets

In his return from a shoulder injury, Chris Webber had to contend with Charles Barkley. That meant plenty of bumping, tussling and trash-talking from Sir Charles.

Webber, back after sitting out eight games because of a strained right shoulder, had a season-high 36 points and helped the Washington Wizards defeat the Houston Rockets, 124-112, Tuesday night at Washington.

The Wizard forward capped a powerful performance with 2:56 to play, when he got Barkley to foul out.

“He was talking a lot,” Webber said. “So it was definitely a sense of satisfaction to play well against him. Being a power forward growing up all my life, I watched him. I emulated him in high school, and that’s the type of player I wanted to be, and now I want to play like that.”

Webber didn’t hold back with his shoulder, playing 44 minutes, making 13 of 24 shots from the field and nine of 13 from the free-throw line. He had three blocked shots and three steals, and drew a foul on Brent Price by diving to the floor for a loose ball late in the third quarter.

Rod Strickland had 31 points and 15 assists for the Wizards.

Kevin Willis led Houston with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Hakeem Olajuwon had 19 points and 10 rebounds in his 1,000th game for the team. Barkley had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Golden State 87, New York 82--The Warriors became the first Western Conference team to win at Madison Square Garden this season, stunning the Knicks at New York.

Muggsy Bogues, with the shot clock running out, made a lunging, off-balance left-handed hook shot from 14 feet away to give the Warriors an 83-78 lead and put out the last Knick threat.

Donyell Marshall had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Warriors. Allan Houston scored 25 for the Knicks.

Miami 104, Utah 102--Tim Hardaway scored five points in the final 48 seconds at Salt Lake City as the Heat fought off the Jazz.

Utah missed two shots in the final five seconds that could have tied or won the game. Karl Malone missed an open jumper with five seconds left and after Voshon Lenard missed two free throws for Miami, John Stockton’s desperation three-point shot from midcourt fell short.

Lenard and Alonzo Mourning had 20 points apiece to lead the Heat, who won their season-best seventh in a row.

New Jersey 110, Vancouver 101--Sam Cassell scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Nets ended a three-game losing streak.

Kerry Kittles scored 29 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and Jayson Williams had 18 points and 15 rebounds as the Nets handed the Grizzlies their 11th loss in 12 games.

Bryant Reeves had 31 points and a season-high 15 rebounds and Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 26 points for Vancouver, which is 0-6 all-time against the Nets.

Cassell scored 16 points in the final quarter, making all five of his shots from the field.

San Antonio 105, Minnesota 99--Tim Duncan scored 26 points and Vinny Del Negro had a season-high 23 to lead the Spurs at San Antonio.

Kevin Garnett led Minnesota with 25 points, while Stephon Marbury added 24.

Minnesota, whose two-game winning streak ended, pulled within 101-97 on Marbury’s three-point basket with 25.9 seconds left. After Del Negro made two free throws, Marbury again brought the Timberwolves within four on a driving shot with 17.2 seconds to play.

Philadelphia 85, Phoenix 84--Derrick Coleman made a last-second, 17-foot jumper to give the 76ers their first victory at Phoenix in 13 years.

Coleman took an inbounds pass from Aaron McKie for the dramatic jumper, which ended the Suns’ five-game winning streak.

Allen Iverson had 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter as the 76ers fought back from a 16-point deficit with 8:30 left. Coleman had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

The Suns got the ball at midcourt with two-tenths of a second left, but Danny Manning’s inbounds pass for Cliff Robinson (21 points) hit the backboard, and bounced out at the buzzer.