NBA Roundup : Bird’s 47 Help Celtics Beat Pistons

For four games he had trouble buying baskets. The radar-like touch became erratic. But everyone knows Larry Bird is not a brick-tosser.

As suddenly as he went into a shooting slump last week, Bird broke out of it Wednesday night, hitting for a season-high 47 points in leading the Boston Celtics to a 132-124 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Boston.

Bird, who hit on 17 of 31 floor shots and all 13 free throws, scored 12 points in a see-saw fourth period as the Celtics pulled away to their fifth consecutive win.

“It was nice to see; I hadn’t seen that for a while,” Boston Coach K.C. Jones said of Bird’s performance. “He came back with a vengeance.”

Bird, who also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, was at the top of his game while playing 39 minutes against the Pistons.

In four games over the past week, he hit only 27 of 79 field goal attempts (34%). But, after scoring 12 points in the first period, he wanted the ball. And the Celtics gladly got it to him, just like old times.

“I see Larry every day so the things he does don’t surprise me,” said veteran Bill Walton, who had 11 points off the bench. “He’s just a phenomenal player.”

The Celtics, improving their record to 13-2 with their eighth consecutive victory at home this season, ended Detroit’s four-game winning streak despite 35 points by Vinnie Johnson and 25 by John Long.

Johnson and Long, with help from rookie Joe Dumars, who had 12 points, helped Detroit compensate for the loss of All-Star Isiah Thomas, who left with a hyperextension of the right knee midway through the second period.

Philadelphia 111, New Jersey 100--The 76ers have a refrigerator of their own and they turned him loose in East Rutherford, N.J. Charles Barkley responded with a career-high 30 points and Moses Malone added 23 as the 76ers snapped a three-game losing streak.

The game turned late in the third period when Philadelphia changed a 76-69 lead into an 87-71 advantage in a 2:39 span. The Nets, who had a three-game winning streak stopped, were hampered by nine turnovers in the third period.

San Antonio 104, Washington 97--The Spurs, led by 25 points from Johnny Moore, staved off a fierce fourth-quarter rally to beat the Bullets at San Antonio.

The Spurs led by 34 points, 85-51, when the Bullets began their rally behind the scoring of Jeff Ruland and Gus Williams and pulled to within three with less than a minute to go. However, they could never forge ahead.

The Bullet rally was due in part to the aggressive play of 7-7 rookie Manute Bol, the popular Dinka tribesman. Bol blocked seven shots during one stretch of the rally.

Milwaukee 114, Atlanta 96--Terry Cummings provided eight points during an 18-1 scoring surge in the fourth quarter to boost the Bucks over the Hawks at Milwaukee.

Cummings finished with 19 points and Ricky Pierce had 16 for the Bucks, who took control with their surge midway through the final quarter and led 97-75 on a Pierce jump shot with 6:39 remaining.

Golden State 104, Denver, 102--Purvis Short scored on a driving layup with 1:05 left and the Warriors beat the Nuggets at Oakland to break a four-game losing streak.

Short’s basket put the Warriors ahead, 103-100, but Denver’s Alex English cut the lead to 103-102 on a layup with 16 seconds left. San Francisco’s Sleepy Floyd’s free throw with 11 seconds left capped the scoring.

The Nuggets got one last shot, but Mike Evans missed from 20 feet with two seconds left.

Portland 110, Phoenix 93--Kiki Vandeweghe scored 14 of his 32 points in a lopsided third quarter as the Trail Blazers beat the hapless Suns at Phoenix. The Suns lost their fourth straight and third in a row at home and are now 2-15, worst in the NBA.

New York 80, Indiana 77--In one of the lowest scoring games of the season, Patrick Ewing had a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Knicks earned their first victory in nine road games this season. The loss was the sixth straight for Indiana.

Utah 114, Chicago 96--Adrian Dantley scored 13 of his 38 points in a 28-16 Utah fourth quarter as the Jazz downed the Bulls at Salt Lake City. The victory was the fifth in six games for the Jazz.