Olajuwon Gets 25 Rebounds, 30 Points

After watching Akeem Olajuwon score 30 points and pull down 25 rebounds Thursday night at New York, Houston Rocket Coach Bill Fitch shot another salvo into the Rookie of the Year race.

“Let’s hold another draft in New York tomorrow and see who’s first,” Fitch said of Olajuwon’s performance in the Rockets’ 113-105 victory over the Knicks. “I love Michael Jordan, but if I were his mother, the best I could do is split the ballot for Rookie of the Year.”

Olajuwon was picked first in last year’s NBA draft ahead of Sam Bowie, who was selected by Portland. Chicago made Jordan the third pick.

Olajuwon’s 25 rebounds topped the NBA’s previous high this season--24 by Philadelphia’s Moses Malone. Fifteen of Olajuwon’s rebounds were on offense, bettering by one his own NBA offensive high for this season.

“Naturally, he was such a destructive force,” Knick Coach Hubie Brown said. “He either got fouled or put it back in. He was the main ingredient.”

“I went for every rebound,” said Olajuwon, who paced Houston to a 73-44 rebounding advantage over the Knicks. “If I go up for 10 rebounds, I’m going to get about six of them. It was certainly one of my best games.”

The victory, Houston’s first at New York in eight tries since 1979, gave the Rockets a 30-21 record, one more victory than they had all last season in 82 games.

Boston 110, Seattle 94--Kevin McHale scored 15 points in the second half (he finished with 26) as the Celtics pulled away to defeat the SuperSonics at Seattle. The victory improved Boston’s road record to 19-8 and overall mark to 42-10 as it moved half a game ahead of idle Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division. The Celtics play the Lakers Sunday at the Forum.

Denver 138, Kansas City 123--Alex English scored 33 points and Calvin Natt 29 to lead the Nuggets at Kansas City. Wayne Cooper had 21 for the Nuggets, who won their third straight.

Milwaukee 132, Indiana 128--Terry Cummings sent the game into overtime with a layup, then scored six points in the extra period to lead the Bucks at Indianapolis. The Bucks’ top scorer was Sidney Moncrief, who had 29 points. Indiana got 31 from Clark Kellogg and 26 from Steve Stipanovich.

San Antonio 131, Phoenix 102--George Gervin scored 24 points to lead the Spurs at San Antonio. The Spurs (27-25) made 21 steals in recording their third straight victory and keeping pace with the division-leading Nuggets.