NBA Roundup : Jeff Malone Scores 40 as Bullets Beat Bulls

Maybe, Jeff Malone was afraid he was in danger of losing his job as the shooting guard for the Washington Bullets to red-hot Leon Wood.

As Wood, the former Cal State Fullerton star, finally cooled off, Malone put on a display of shooting Sunday at Landover, Md., to lead the Bullets to a 112-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

After shooting better than 50% in his first five games as a Bullet, Wood was 0-for-8 against the Bulls. Malone easily took up the slack. He scored 40 points to tie his career high, sinking 15-of-21 shots from the field.

When the Bulls and Bullets met last Tuesday at Chicago, the game was overshadowed by a fight between 7-7 Manute Bol of the Bullets and 7-0 Jawann Oldham of the Bulls. There were no untoward incidents this time, but Bol was a factor. He had seven points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots. Oldham played only 16 minutes and had just five points and three rebounds. Before the game the two antagonists shook hands.

In his third NBA season Malone, a 6-4 first round draft choice from Mississippi State, has blossomed into a star. He is the team’s top scorer, helping make up for the loss of injured center Jeff Ruland.

The Bullets led, 56-48, at halftime and Malone, scoring their first 12 points of the second half, was instrumental in keeping them there.

“He was absolutely devastating,” Chicago Coach Stan Albeck said. “He had our players thinking more about defense than their own offensive game. It didn’t matter who we had on Malone, he scored on them all.”

The Bulls didn’t seem to have their minds on offense at the start, either. They made only three of their first 18 shots and finished shooting only 38.6% for the game. Guard Quentin Dailey was the poorest marksman, missing all 11 of his shots.

San Antonio 116, Portland 105--Don’t count the Spurs out of the race in the Midwest Division. Unlike the two top teams, Houston and Denver, the Spurs can win on the road.

With Artis Gilmore and Steve Johnson controlling the inside and Alvin Robertson dominating the outside, the Spurs improved their road record to 10-13 at Portland. The Rockets on the road are 6-13, Denver is 6-14.

Gilmore had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Johnson had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Robertson had 24 points and 7 assists as the Spurs moved to within 4 1/2 games of first place.

Milwaukee 122, Golden State 109--The Warriors opened a 72-58 lead three minutes into the second half at Milwaukee, but when the Bucks finally found the range, it was no contest.

After making only 8-of-27 shots in the second quarter, the Bucks were 14 for 21 in the third. After the Warriors went ahead by 14, the Bucks went on a 30-8 spree to take command.

Dallas 131, Houston 96--The Mavericks were without their top scorer, Mark Aguirre, who has a rib cage injury. But the Rockets had a worse problem: They were on the road.

Rolando Blackman scored 27 points and Sam Perkins had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Mavericks scored their most one-sided win over the Rockets.

Akeem Olajuwon had 31 points for the Rockets, but the other Twin Tower, Ralph Sampson, had only 10 points and 4 rebounds.