Joe Dumars of the Pistons shut down Jeff Malone of the Bullets Sunday to earn the NBA's most infuriating assignment -- trying to stop Michael Jordan.
The Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls won at home in Game 5 to capture their opening-round playoff series, setting up a meeting in the second round.
Malone, a key for Washington in the first four games, was 1 for 8 in the first half and was held scoreless after intermission. Guarded mostly by Dumars, Malone shot 1 for 12 from the field and finished with 4 points in a 99-78 loss to Detroit.
'Joe Dumars stood big,' Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said. 'And you know what he got a ticket to? To play Michael Jordan.'
Jordan scored 39 points and rookie Scottie Pippen added 24, lifting the Bulls over the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-101. Jordan set an NBA record for most points in a five-game playoff with 226.
The Bulls and Pistons jumped to 2-0 leads in their series, only to lose the advantage when the playoffs shifted sites. Game 1 of their best-of-seven series is Tuesday night at the Silverdome.
The Atlanta Hawks received 33 points from Dominique Wilkins and 29 from Randy Wittman to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 121-111 and advance against the Boston Celtics. Atlanta led the playoff 2-0 before the Bucks squared the series.
In Game 1 of a second-round series, the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Utah Jazz 110-91. James Worthy scored 23 points and the Lakers limited the Jazz to a playoff-record 8 points in the first quarter. Chicago 107, Cleveland 101 At Chicago, for the first time in the series the Bulls won when Jordan scored less than 50 points. The Bulls also won their first playoff series since 1981. Dave Corzine added 14 points for Chicago while Mark Price scored 25, Ron Harper 17 and Brad Daugherty 16 for the Cavaliers. Cleveland made only 20 of 32 free throws.
'It's a big day for the franchise,' Chicago Coach Doug Collins said. 'We were able to make the next big step up. If we had lost, it would have been written that the 50 wins this year were basically meaningless.' Detroit 99, Washington 78 At Pontiac, Mich., Dennis Rodman scored 12 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and the Detroit defense smothered Washington. Rodman hit a shot from the wing, put in a rebound, made two free throws and slammed a feed from Dumars to help Detroit lead 87-69 with 4:57 to play.
For Detroit, Dumars had 20 points, Adrian Dantley added 17 and Isiah Thomas 16. For the Bullets, who shot less than 40 percent in every quarter, Bernard King had 18 points.
'This was the first game we had the right frame of mind,' Rodman said. 'The old Pistons came out of the closet. They'd been in a closet the whole series. We showed the people what we can do.' Hawks 121, Bucks 111 At Atlanta, Wilkins scored 24 points in the first half, including 14 of the Hawks' first 16 points. He then played decoy much of the second half with Wittman taking charge.
'Fortunately, I got going early, got us going,' Wilkins said. 'From there, it seemed like our other guys just picked up and just took up where I left off.
Kevin Willis scored 20 points for the Hawks. For the Bucks, Terry Cummings had 28 points.
'We just blew it,' Cummings said. 'I don't know if they were hungrier or just the better team.'
The Hawks play at Boston Wednesday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. LA Lakers 110, Utah 91 At Inglewood, Calif., the Jazz hit 4 of 19 shots and were outrebounded 20-6 in falling behind 24-8 after one period. The Lakers led by 24 points at halftime.
Karl Malone od the Jazz had 29 points but just 3 in the first half. He missed his first seven shots and did not score until 4:08 remained in the second period.
Magic Johnson added 19 points for the Lakers, who beat Utah for the fifth time in six meetings this season. Thurl Bailey had 23 points for the Jazz.
Utah has lost 12 straight games at the Forum and is 2-31 on the Lakers' court. The Jazz trailed by 30 early in the third quarter.
'(The Lakers) had a week to prepare,' Utah Coach Frank Layden said. 'It's like they were invading France.'
