NBA ROUNDUP : Jordan Rescues Bulls in Overtime

When the Chicago Bulls lost their tempo in the fourth quarter, Michael Jordan took it upon himself to put the team back on track in overtime.

Jordan scored eight of his 36 points in the extra period Thursday night after the Bulls blew a 13-point lead to the Detroit Pistons in the fourth quarter. The Bulls went on to a 109-103 victory at Chicago that kept them alive for home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Jordan put the Bulls ahead to stay, 101-100, with 3:23 to play and then made two more baskets down the stretch, the last one giving Chicago a 107-101 lead with 52 seconds remaining.

Trailing, 80-67, going into the fourth quarter, the Pistons tied the score, 95-95, on a three-pointer by Joe Dumars with 22 seconds to play in regulation. Both teams missed opportunities to win in the final seconds.

Despite trailing New York by one game in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls will earn home-court advantage if they win at Charlotte tonight and beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Chicago has a tiebreaker advantage over the Knicks.

The loss put the Pistons a step closer to not making the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They trail eighth-place Indiana by two games with two to play, including tonight against the Pacers.

Phoenix 115, Portland 114--Charles Barkley, in his first game off the injured list, banked in a 10-foot shot at the buzzer, giving the Suns the victory at Portland.

Phoenix, which lost three in a row and four of five games with Barkley sidelined because of a shoulder injury, led, 113-112, on Tom Chambers’ three-point play with 3.7 seconds to play before Cliff Robinson made a 20-footer with 0.5 seconds remaining to set up Barkley’s game-winner.

San Antonio 131, Denver 111--Dale Ellis scored 30 points, including 18 during a 47-point first quarter at San Antonio as the Spurs clinched fifth place in the Western Conference.

David Robinson and Sean Elliott had 21 points each for the Spurs, who ended a three-game losing streak.

Houston 112, Minnesota 110--Matt Bullard’s jumper with 1.2 seconds to play in overtime gave him a career-high 28 points and rallied the Rockets at Houston.

The victory boosted the Rockets’ winning streak to 11 games and extended the Timberwolves’ losing streak to 11.