Pippen Loses Punch : East: Bull forward goes scoreless during the second half of a 99-85 loss to the Cavaliers. The series is tied.

RICHFIELD, Ohio — Forward Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls shrugged his shoulders after the Cleveland Cavaliers held him scoreless during the second half of a 99-85 victory in the NBA Eastern Conference finals Monday.

Pippen scored 13 points during the first half before the Cavaliers evened the series at 2-2 in front of 20,273 at the Richfield Coliseum.

Pippen had four points during the first quarter and nine during the second, making five of eight shots, including a three-pointer, and two of three free throws. But he took only three shots during the second half in perhaps his worst playoff game since he sat out the seventh game of the 1990 Eastern Conference finals because of a migraine headache.

Pippen, who averaged 21 points and 15.2 shots during this season’s playoffs, said that he didn’t get many shots during the second half because Chicago Coach Phil Jackson wanted to get the ball to Michael Jordan, who scored a game-high 35 points--but needed 33 shots to do it.

Asked if Cavalier forwards Mike Sanders and John (Hot Rod) Williams, who checked him, altered their defense to stop him during the second half, Pippen said: “They didn’t do anything. I just didn’t get any opportunities. I guess there were other guys out on the court that were more important. How many shots did I shoot the second half? . . . I never got the ball. The pressure was on, and it unfolded like that.

“Phil (Jackson) just didn’t allow me to push the ball the way I did in the last game (when he had 23 points during a nine-point victory). Why? You’d have to get that from him.”

Said Jackson: “I don’t know why Scottie shot so few shots. You have to ask him. He played a pretty good first half, but he never seemed to find a rhythm in the second half. He just couldn’t get things going his way.”

Jordan, who made nine of 20 shots during the second half, said he was unaware of Pippen’s blanking by the Cavaliers.

“It really baffles me that Scottie didn’t score in the second half,” Jordan said.

While Pippen and the Bull front line of Horace Grant (seven points), Bill Cartwright (four points) and reserves Scott Williams (two points), Will Perdue (no points) and Cliff Levingston (eight points) struggled, Cleveland’s front court players outscored the Bulls by a margin of 63-34.

Forward Larry Nance had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Williams had 18 points, center Brad Daugherty had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Sanders had nine points, including a key three-pointer with 3:38 to play.

With guard Mark Price limited to 30 minutes after being hospitalized Sunday night because of a stomach virus, guard Craig Ehlo scored 21 points, making four three-point shots.

Criticized as marshmallows for being too soft in losing the first game of the series by14 points, the Cavaliers got more physical.

Reserve center Danny Ferry was ejected for throwing two punches at Jordan with 10:05 to play in the second quarter, and Jordan and Ehlo were momentarily dazed after they bumped heads during the fourth quarter.

Ferry, angered while trying to fight through a double screen, threw a left hook and a right hook at Jordan, who cocked his arm but didn’t throw a punch.

“It took all the strength I had not to throw a punch back at him,” Jordan said. “It wasn’t a great situation in terms of me getting thrown out and him getting thrown out. I felt I meant a little bit more to my team than he did to his. That’s not an even trade. I’m not dumb, I can think.”

Ferry said he lost his temper.

“I think I lost my mind out there,” Ferry said. “That’s not what I’m about.”

Ferry’s ejection seemed to give the Cavaliers a lift, and they outscored the Bulls, 19-10, to open a 15-point lead.

With Chicago trailing by 14 points during the fourth quarter, Levingston made four consecutive shots as the Bulls outscored the Cavaliers, 18-8, to cut the deficit to four points with 4:04 to play.

But Sanders barely beat the 24-second clock and made his three-pointer with 3:38 remaining to give Cleveland a seven-point lead. It was the first three-pointer that the former UCLAstar has made during the playoffs.

“It was the biggest three-pointer of my career,” Sanders said.

The shot triggered a game-ending 15-5 run for Cleveland.

“It was a big shot for them,” Jordan said. “We were trying to get back into the game, and it cut our run down. But that wasn’t the one shot that killed us. We didn’t play well throughout the game.”

After going 15-2 in the playoffs en route to winning the NBA title last season, the Bulls are 6-5 after a three-game sweep of Miami.

“The hunger has not been the same as it was last year, which is part of the difficulty oftrying to repeat,” Jordan said. “It’s tough to have that same hunger.”