NBA Roundup : Aguirre Benched, Then Won’t Play

Dallas Mavericks forward Mark Aguirre refused to re-enter a Thursday night game against the Hawks at Atlanta after a second-quarter incident in which he said Coach Dick Motka benched him for helping an opponent to his feet.

Dallas won the game, 120-108.

In the second quarter, Aguirre collided with Dominique Wilkins. While play continued, Aguirre helped Wilkins to his feet. He was then removed from the game.

“I ran into Dominique Wilkins very hard,” said Aguirre, who scored all of his 12 points in the first quarter. “Dominique is a friend of mine, and I thought I had really hurt him because I’m a pretty powerful young man.

“For me to be snatched out of the game just for picking someone up is really disturbing to me and I can’t play under those kinds of conditions,” he said.

Asked about the incident, Motta said: “He said he didn’t want to play any more. I like guys to play. I’ve never begged anyone.”

Rolando Blackman scored 31 points, and Sam Perkins added 23 for the Mavericks. Wilkins led Atlanta with 29 points.

Cleveland 109, New York 105--Between Mel Turpin and Lonnie Shelton, Cleveland beat up Patrick Ewing both figuratively and literally at New York.

Turpin hit 13 of 15 shots for a career-high 29 points, and Shelton floored the Knicks’ rookie center with an elbow to the mouth.

“It’s part of the game, but he did catch me good,” said Ewing, who finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds.

World B. Free scored the last eight points for the Cavaliers, all from the free-throw line, to hold off a late New York surge. He finished with 28 points.

Denver 123, Portland 118--Alex English scored 10 of his 44 points during a three-minute stretch late in the game at Denver to move the Nuggets into a tie for first place in the Midwest Division with Houston. Both teams have 18-9 records.

English had only one point in the first quarter, missing all seven of his shots from the field, but his 19 points in the third period put Denver in the lead for good.

Phoenix 107, Sacramento 106--Larry Nance made a layup with six seconds left at Phoenix to give the Suns their sixth win in seven games. Nance wound up with a game-high 30 points. Mike Sanders had 21 points for Phoenix.

Reggie Theus led the Kings with 26 points.

Washington 98, Chicago 92--At Chicago, reserve guard Gus Williams scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, while Cliff Robinson, who had a team-high 27 points, added three baskets in the final three minutes.

Jeff Malone added 17 points, and 7-7 center Manute Bol blocked 7 shots for Washington. Quintin Dailey led the Bulls with a season-high 31 points.

Detroit 99, Seattle 97--Bill Laimbeer’s 17-foot basket with four seconds remaining at Seattle broke the Pistons’ four-game losing streak while stretching the Sonics’ losing streak to three games.