It's hard to say which was worse - Philadelphia's behavior or its play.
Charles Barkley and two other 76ers were ejected from Thursday night's game at Charlotte, which featured a bench-clearing brawl in the third quarter. But the game already was out of hand before the fight.Led by Dell Curry's 22 points, the Hornets routed the 76ers 136-84. It was the worst loss in 76ers' history and the most points ever scored by Charlotte in its four-year history.
"We jumped all over them real bad and that's probably why tempers flared," said Charlotte's J.R. Reid, who was ejected along with Barkley and Philadelphia's Jayson Williams following the fight.
Johnny Dawkins of the 76ers was thrown out earlier in the quarter after getting two technicals for arguing with officials. The argument occurred after Barkley committed a flagrant foul against Tyrone Bogues.
Barkley also triggered the brawl when he collided with Reid and was called for an offensive foul with 4:28 in the third period and Charlotte leading 90-51.
After Reid and Barkley exchanged words, Barkley threw the ball at the Charlotte forward and both benches cleared. The fight spilled into the stands before order was restored.
"Tonight, Charles sunk real low," Reid said. "What he did isn't called for in this league."
Philadelphia coach Jim Lynam said the brawl was triggered by the lopsided score. The 52-point defeat was the worst in team history, topping a 48-point loss to the New York Knicks in 1972.
"We were down so much, it was just frustration," Lynam said. "It's one of those nights when we couldn't do anything right and they did very little wrong."
Barkley, who had 10 points and seven rebounds, said he felt Charlotte ran up the score.
"We just didn't play well, but you don't humiliate a team when they are up by 20 or 30 points," he said. "Our team will remember this game."
Nets 98, Trail Blazers 96
Terry Mills, getting a rare start, had 16 points and a career-high 19 rebounds as New Jersey beat visiting Portland for the first time since 1985.
Pistons 104, Bucks 97
Joe Dumars scored 26 points as Detroit extended Milwaukee's road losing streak to 13 games.
John Salley and Orlando Woolridge each added 18 points for the Pistons, while Dennis Rodman had 16 points and 22 rebounds.
Spurs 124, Warriors 103
David Robinson scored 37 points and matched his career high with 24 rebounds for San Antonio.Terry Cummings added 23 points and Donald Royal had a season-high 16 for the Spurs, who handed visiting Golden State only its second loss since the All-Star break. Chris Mullin led Golden State with 28 points, while Billy Owens had 20.
Kings 110, Knicks 109
Mitch Richmond scored a season-high 37 points and made a key steal for Sacramento in the closing seconds to hand the Knicks their third road loss in four nights.
Anthony Bonner hit the second of two free throws with 18.8 seconds left to give the Kings a one-point lead. Richmond then knocked the ball away from John Starks near halfcourt as the Knicks worked for a final shot following two timeouts.