NBA Roundup : King Has 46, Malone Has 37--but Barkley Has 5 in a Big Finish

Bernard King scored 46 points to tie an 11-year-old record, but that wasn’t the story.

Moses Malone scored 37 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but that wasn’t the story.

No, the story at Philadelphia Wednesday night was rookie Charles Barkley, who scored a mere 20 points.

Five of those came in the final 41 seconds, however, and that was enough to give the 76ers a 131-129 victory over the New York Knicks and move Philadelphia into a tie for first place with the idle Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division.

The victory was the fourth straight and the sixth in the last seven games for Philadelphia. The Knicks lost for the fifth time in their last six games.

King’s 46 points for New York tied a record in the Spectrum for a visiting player. Bob McAdoo, playing for Buffalo, set the record in 1974.

Detroit 124, Dallas 119--Isiah Thomas scored 23 points and had a career-high 25 assists as the Pistons won at Pontiac, Mich.

The Mavericks, who trailed, 63-47, at the intermission despite a 27-point first-half performance by forward Mark Aguirre, rallied to close the gap to two points with 3:20 remaining in the game. But eight straight Detroit points put the game out of reach.

“We fell behind in the first half and I don’t think we were really ready to play,” Maverick Coach Dick Motta said. “I think Mark (Aguirre) was wired. I just honestly feel the rest of the players stood around and watched the Aguirre show in the first half.”

Aguirre led all scorers with 40 points, while Terry Tyler led all Detroit scorers with 25 points.

The 25 assists by Thomas tied a Piston team record, set by Kevin Porter in 1979.

Atlanta 94, Utah 88--Kevin Willis scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Hawks to a come-from-behind victory over the Jazz at Salt Lake City.

The Jazz led for most of the game but turned cold in the fourth quarter, scoring only 11 points.

Dominique Wilkins led the Hawks with 26 points. Thurl Bailey was Utah’s top scorer with 20.

New Jersey 112, Cleveland 105--Otis Birdsong scored 31 points and Micheal Ray Richardson added 16 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Nets won for the fifth time in the last six games.