Bulls Without Rodman? No Problem

They’ve won with him, they’ve won without him.

Suspensions of Dennis Rodman are nothing new to the Chicago Bulls, and they showed they can overcome his absence--at least for now--by beating the Milwaukee Bucks, 100-73, Friday night at Chicago for their ninth consecutive victory.

“We’ve played without Dennis before,” Michael Jordan said. “We just have to go at it hard and try to make the best of the situation.”

Jordan and Toni Kukoc scored 24 points apiece and Scottie Pippen had 20 points for Chicago.

The Bulls, who went 15-3 in games without Rodman last season, outrebounded Milwaukee, 38-34. Luc Longley had eight rebounds and Jordan and Pippen each had seven.

Pippen had seven steals and Jordan had 11 assists.

Jason Caffey made his third start of the season, in place of Rodman, and had seven points and only one rebound.

Vin Baker matched a season high with 36 points to lead Milwaukee.

Houston 88, Dallas 78--Hakeem Olajuwon helped the Rockets become the second NBA team to reach 30 victories as he scored 26 points at Dallas.

Houston’s Charles Barkley, the league’s third-leading rebounder, said he will be sidelined a week to 10 days because of an ankle injury suffered in Thursday night’s victory over Sacramento.

The Rockets (30-9) play host to the Bulls (34-4) on Sunday.

Seattle 96, Cleveland 84--Shawn Kemp scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half and Gary Payton added 23 points as the SuperSonics won at Seattle.

Sam Perkins extended his streak of successful three-point baskets to nine by making his only shot of the game in the third quarter. The league record is 13 in a row.

Toronto 94, Portland 92--Damon Stoudamire scored Toronto’s final seven points and had a game-high 24 as the Raptors won at Portland.

Stoudamire made a three-point shot for a 92-87 lead with 3:09 remaining and put the Raptors ahead, 94-90, a minute later with a baseline drive. Kenny Anderson’s basket cut the lead to 94-92 with 1:56 remaining, and both teams suddenly turned cold.

Miami 103, Washington 92--Alonzo Mourning had a big night against the Bullets for the second time in five days, scoring 34 points to carry the Heat to a victory at Baltimore.

Juwan Howard, playing his second game against the team he signed with--and then left--in the off-season, scored a season-high 33 points and Calbert Cheaney had 23 for the Bullets.

Golden State 98, Indiana 91--Latrell Sprewell and Joe Smith scored 26 points apiece and the Warriors used nearly perfect free- throw shooting to beat the Pacers at Indianapolis.

Dale Davis led the Pacers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Reggie Miller finished with only 16 points, five in the second half.

New Jersey 105, Philadelphia 103--Kendall Gill scored five of his 29 points in the final 1:08 of overtime to give the Nets a victory at Philadelphia.

Jayson Williams had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Nets.

Clarence Weatherspoon had 29 points and 13 rebounds for the 76ers.

Utah 106, Vancouver 68--Karl Malone scored 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter at Vancouver to hand the Grizzlies their 99th loss in franchise history.

Stephen Howard scored 15 points and Antoine Carr 13 as the Jazz’s bench outscored Vancouver’s, 37-14.

San Antonio 96, Sacramento 76--Sean Elliott scored 19 points in only 23 minutes and the Spurs, helped by the ejection of Mitch Richmond in the second quarter at San Antonio, had their most lopsided win of the season.

Richmond picked up his second technical foul when he disputed a foul call.