NBA Roundup : Pistons Fire Up, Beat Celtics; Parish Ejected

Boston Celtic Coach K.C. Jones had a premonition, and he was sorry he did.

Before the Celtics faced the slumping Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at Pontiac, Mich., Jones told the Associated Press:

“We might be going from the frying pan into the fire. They have had a bad run. They will be looking to break out against us.”

It was Isiah Thomas doing the breaking out. The Piston backcourt star scored 12 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter as the Pistons ended a six-game losing streak by beating the Celtics, 113-109.

The Celtics played the second half without center Robert Parish, who was banished for throwing a punch at Bill Laimbeer of the Pistons late in the second quarter.

The Pistons, who had lost 10 of their last 11 games and had a 1-5 record at home in December, seemed to catch fire after Parish was ejected.

However, they had a tough time shaking the Celtics after taking a 65-59 halftime lead. They did not have the lead for good until Vinnie Johnson sank a jumper to make it 106-104 with 2:15 left.

It appeared that a jumper by Larry Bird with seven seconds left had tied the score at 111-111, but Kevin McHale was called for an offensive foul and the basket was disallowed.

The Celtics shot only 43.9% from the field, with most of the scoring done by McHale (29) and Bird (26).

Thomas, who drew a technical foul when he threw the ball at Parish after the Boston center threw the punch at Laimbeer, had an outstanding game. He was 16 of 29 from the field and had 13 assists and 6 rebounds.

“At this point,” Thomas said, “it didn’t matter if we beat the Little Sisters of the Poor. We needed a win. It’s been a hard couple of weeks for everybody. We’ve won one in a row, but we have to keep winning.”

Jones praised the performance of Thomas.

“Any time he has the ball, he’s doubly difficult,” Jones said. “He can score, play defense, rebound, pass. He’s a quadruple threat.”

It appeared that Parish became angry when Laimbeer, with 3:15 left in the second quarter, apparently elbowed Parish.

In the absence of Parish, Bill Walton played 20 minutes, but he made only 2 of 8 shots and had 5 rebounds.

The loss gave the Celtics a 25-8 record. Last season, when they finished with the best overall record, the Celtics did not lose their eighth until the 42nd game.

Milwaukee 110, Cleveland 101--When people talk about the best teams in the NBA, they almost always talk about the Celtics and the Lakers.

Maybe it’s time to include the Bucks. In this game at Milwaukee, they breezed to their seventh win in a row to improve their record to 25-12. It is third best, but not too far behind the top two.

Ricky Pierce scored 20 to lead the Bucks, who led almost all the way. They built the lead to 19 early in the fourth quarter.

Houston 124, Golden State 115--Akeem Olajuwon had a different twist to a triple double as he led the Rockets to their 18th victory without a loss at home.

The second-year center scored 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 11 shots in an impressive performance.

Ralph Sampson, showing steady improvement after a slow start this season, had 22 points and 17 rebounds.

Until midway through the last quarter when the Rockets went on a 17-2 spurt, the Warriors kept coming back each time the Rockets built a lead.

Purvis Short of the Warriors, who averaged 37 points in the three previous games, had only 16. The Warriors were led by Sleepy Floyd and Chris Mullin, with 26 apiece.

New York 93, Indiana 85--Patrick Ewing scored 24 points at New York, but it was Louis Orr, leading a late surge, who ended the Knicks’ four-game losing streak.

The Pacers led, 74-70, with 8:17 to play, but Orr made two free throws and a jumper to trigger a 15-4 rally that won the game.

New Jersey 110, Chicago 105-- Darryl Dawkins came off the bench to score 24 points, sinking two jumpers in the closing minutes at Chicago to keep the Nets in front.

The Bulls, with George Gervin contributing 28 points, led most of the way. A Dawkins dunk gave the Nets the lead for good, 91-90, halfway through the last quarter.

The Nets, who hope to have Micheal Ray Richardson back next week, have won 11 of their last 15.

Denver 132, Dallas 110--The Nuggets, returning home after losing two in a row on the road, jumped in front early and breezed to victory.

Alex English, the league’s leading scorer, had 33 points, while the Nuggets’ other forward, Calvin Natt, had 26 points and 10 rebounds.

The Nuggets had lost five of their previous six, and in four of the losses they led at halftime. This time they built a 65-48 halftime lead and rolled from there.

Seattle 91, Utah 84--Jack Sikma had 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the SuperSonics to victory at Seattle.

Sikma dominated the third quarter, when the Sonics took an eight-point lead. Sikma had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in the third quarter.

Adrian Dantley scored 12 points in the first quarter but finished with only 22 points.