Heat Loses Mourning to Foot Injury

The Miami Heat’s winning streak ended at 11 games Friday night.

So what? Miami plays again Sunday.

But All-Star center Alonzo Mourning won’t. He departed with 7:10 to play in the third quarter because of a serious foot injury in the Heat’s 114-110 loss to Portland in Miami.

Mourning apparently tore the plantar fascia, a tendon under the arch. He will undergo an MRI exam today, and if the preliminary diagnosis is correct, will be sidelined about six weeks.

He had the same injury to his left foot while in college at Georgetown.

“We’ll have to settle down, gather the forces and try to make do,” Heat Coach Pat Riley said.

Mourning hurt his right foot driving to the basket with Miami up, 67-60. The lead was increased to 80-69 before Portland rallied.

He was immediately helped to the locker room and sat out the rest of the game.

Rasheed Wallace had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who shot 51% and outscored Miami, 23-2, midway through the second half.

“Obviously, if you take Alonzo Mourning off that team, it’s going to hurt them,” Portland Coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “I liked our chances with him out of the lineup. But the way we were executing offensively, we might have been OK anyway.”

Voshon Lenard led Miami with 29 points, 21 of them coming on seven three-point baskets, and newcomer Jamal Mashburn had 14. Tim Hardaway had 16 points and 11 assists, but he missed 13 of 17 shots.

Isaac Austin, who replaced Mourning, had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Hardaway said of the Heat’s losing its leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. “We can’t dwell on it. What are we going to do, just stop playing and settle for .500 ball? We’ve got to keep going.”

Seattle 84, New York 64--Terry Cummings scored a season-high 17 points and the SuperSonics held New York to a season-low point total and only 20 field goals--one more than the NBA record-low--in a win in Seattle.

The SuperSonics won their fifth game in a row and ended the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak. One night after shooting a season-best 59.4% against Sacramento, the Knicks shot a season-low 30.3% from the field.

Only an off-balance baseline jump shot by rookie Walter McCarty with 2.3 seconds to play kept the Knicks from tying the record low of 19 field goals set by Indiana in 1985. The Knicks’ 64 points were only three more than the lowest total in franchise history.

Seattle held Patrick Ewing to seven points. It was the third time this season he has scored in single digits.

Chicago 103, Washington 99--Michael Jordan put on a dazzling show for President Clinton, scoring 18 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter for the Bulls in a victory at Landover, Md.

Clinton, who sat 10 rows up at midcourt with Bullet owner Abe Pollin, became the first president to attend an NBA game since Jimmy Carter in 1979.

Clinton visited both dressing rooms before the game, munched on a tub of popcorn throughout the first half and stayed until the final buzzer.

Chicago opened a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Rod Strickland scored seven points in a 15-2 run that got Washington to 86-85 with 6:32 left. Jordan then scored the Bulls’ next 15 points.

Orlando 99, Denver 86--Penny Hardaway scored 22 points and Gerald Wilkins and Derek Strong came off the bench to score 12 of 15 Magic points during a three-minute stretch in which it went on a 15-7 run in the second half of a win at Orlando.

The victory raised Richie Adubato’s record to 2-0 as the Magic’s interim coach. He replaced Brian Hill on Tuesday.

San Antonio 98, Milwaukee 93--Carl Herrera scored 24 points and had successive fourth-quarter baskets to stave off a Milwaukee comeback and help give the Spurs a victory at San Antonio.

The injury-depleted Spurs, who ended a five-game losing streak, suited up only eight players.

Five Spurs scored in double figures as Avery Johnson had 20 points and Dominique Wilkins and Vinny Del Negro scored 18 apiece.

Atlanta 76, Houston 74--Mookie Blaylock made a 15-foot jump shot with one-tenth of a second to play, lifting the Hawks to victory in Atlanta and avenging a 29-point loss earlier in the week at Houston.

Blaylock’s basket was the Hawks’ only score in the final 5:08 after Steve Smith’s basket gave the Hawks a 74-68 lead.

Phoenix 94, Cleveland 88--Wesley Person scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, connecting on four three-point baskets in a six-minute span for the Suns, who won at Phoenix.

Cedric Ceballos added 20 points and 11 rebounds and Kevin Johnson had 20 points for Phoenix, which has won four games in a row.

Detroit 98, New Jersey 84--Grant Hill had 19 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds for the Pistons, who won at Auburn Hills, Mich., for their fifth victory in a row.

Minnesota 101, Golden State 82--Dean Garrett had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who reached .500 for the latest time in any season with a victory at Minneapolis.

Minnesota’s previous best winning percentage after 54 games was .333, when the team was 18-36 in 1990-91. That season, Minnesota began the year 3-3 and finished with a franchise-high 29 victories.