New York Attacks Back

Believe it or not, the Chicago Bulls can indeed be beaten - even with Michael Jordan at his amazing best.

The New York Knicks proved that Saturday at Madison Square Garden, overcoming Jordan’s 46 points and incredible late-game heroics for a 102-99 overtime victory that cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“I never figured we were invincible,” Jordan said after Chicago’s first loss of the postseason. “If there was an aura around us because of the 72 games we won in the regular season, I don’t think (the players) felt that way.”

Game 4 is this afternoon, and Game 5 will be Tuesday night at Chicago.

Like so many Knicks-Bulls games in past playoffs, this one was quite memorable. New York controlled the game until the final minute and a half, when Jordan erased an eight-point deficit all by himself, helped by two critical Knicks turnovers.

But Jordan wasn’t able to free himself for a good shot at the end of regulation, and passed the ball off at the end of overtime when Chicago needed a 3-pointer to tie. Scottie Pippen ended up getting an open shot just before the buzzer, but it bounced off the front of the rim.

John Starks led New York with 30 points, seven in overtime.

Patrick Ewing overcame his fourth-quarter no-shows of Games 1 and 2 and finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. His jumper over Luc Longley with 38 seconds left in overtime gave New York the lead for good at 98-97.

Jordan had the ball tipped away by Charles Oakley on the Bulls’ next possession, and he fouled Starks after the ball got away. Starks made two free throws for a 100-97 lead, and the Knicks gave up an uncontested dunk to Pippen with 13 seconds left.

Oakley was fouled 2 seconds later and made both free throws, forcing the Bulls to try a 3-pointer for the tie. Jordan was double-covered and threw a crosscourt pass to Pippen, whose shot was short.

“We’re totally out of sync offensively, and I find myself bailing the team out because of it. I don’t think we’re shooting the ball with a lot of confidence, and you need confidence at this time of the year,” Jordan said.

Knicks 102, Bulls 99 (OT)

Chicago (99) - Rodman 2-4 3-3 7, Pippen 10-29 0-0 24, Longley 3-7 0-0 6, Jordan 17-35 10-13 46, R.Harper 1-8 1-2 4, Wennington 2-4 0-0 4, Kerr 3-5 0-0 6, Buechler 0-0 2-2 2, Salley 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-92 16-20 99.

New York (102) - Oakley 4-8 5-6 13, Mason 7-10 4-6 18, Ewing 8-15 6-8 22, Starks 11-18 3-5 30, D.Harper 1-11 1-1 3, Ward 5-6 2-4 12, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 1-6 2-3 4. Totals 37-75 23-33 102.

Chicago 17 21 20 30 11 - 99

New York 25 18 19 26 14 - 102

3-Point goals-Chicago 7-21 (Pippen 4-11, Jordan 2-5, Harper 1-4, Kerr 0-1), New York 5-17 (Starks 5-8, Oakley 0-1, Ward 0-1, Anderson 0-2, Harper 0-5). Fouled out-None. Rebounds- Chicago 44 (Rodman 16), New York 62 (Oakley, Ewing 13). Assists-Chicago 16 (Pippen 6), New York 17 (Starks 6). Total fouls-Chicago 28, New York 19. Technicals-Rodman, Oakley, Chicago illegal defense. A-19,763 (19,763).

Jazz 105, Spurs 75

Salt Lake City

Both wins by Utah in its Western Conference semifinal with favored San Antonio have been blowouts.

No secret to it, Karl Malone insisted after he scored 32 points in Utah’s Game 3 rout. That and a 95-75 win in Game 1 gave the Jazz a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“Going to the basket strong sets the tone for us. I see what the defense gives me and play off that,” said Malone, who was 14 of 24 from the field, mixing inside power moves with perimeter jumpers.

The Jazz defense held David Robinson to just 11 points, with Malone getting much of the time opposite the Spurs center, who had averaged 26.5 points in the first two games.

“A lot of us are not playing the way we are capable,” Robinson said. “We haven’t scored in this series, we haven’t executed, we haven’t adjusted to them.”

Game 4 is today at the Delta Center with Game 5 back in San Antonio Tuesday night.

Malone - who scored half his points in the first quarter when Utah took a 32-20 lead - also had 11 rebounds, six assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

“He was phenomenal. He delivered,” Robinson said. “He did everything they asked him to do.”

San Antonio (75) - Elliott 5-11 6-6 17, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Robinson 4-10 3-9 11, Del Negro 6-12 1-1 15, Johnson 2-9 3-4 7, Perdue 3-4 2-2 8, Person 2-5 0-0 5, Alexander 3-6 2-2 8, Anderson 0-4 0-0 0, Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Herrera 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 17-24 75.

Utah (105) - Morris 5-8 0-0 12, Malone 14-24 4-7 32, Spencer 2-5 0-0 4, Hornacek 6-11 3-3 17, Stockton 2-6 1-1 6, Eisley 6-6 2-2 14, Ostertag 1-2 0-0 2, Russell 4-8 0-0 10, Keefe 1-3 1-1 3, Carr 0-3 0-0 0, Benoit 2-4 0-0 5, Foster 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 43-81 11-14 105.

San Antonio 20 22 16 17 - 75

Utah 32 19 32 22 - 105

3-Point goals-San Antonio 4-10 (Del Negro 2-2, Person 1-2, Elliott 1-4, Alexander 0-2), Utah 8-12 (Hornacek 2-2, Russell 2-2, Morris 2-3, Stockton 1-2, Benoit 1-2, Malone 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-San Antonio 44 (Robinson 9), Utah 44 (Malone 11). Assists-San Antonio 14 (Johnson 10), Utah 29 (Stockton 7). Total fouls-San Antonio 23, Utah 19. Technicals-San Antonio coach Hill, Person, Carr, Utah Illegal defense. Ejections-Person. A-19,911 (19,911).

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NBA PLAYOFFS Today’s games Orlando at Atlanta, 9:30 a.m. (NBC) Seattle at Houston, noon (NBC) Chicago at New York, 2:30 p.m. (NBC) San Antonio at Utah, 5:30 p.m. (TNT)