NBA Roundup : Nets Turn Tables on Weary 76ers and Win, 123-89

Otis Birdsong scored 27 points, and the New Jersey Nets scored 44 points in the fourth quarter to roll over the weary 76ers, 123-89, Wednesday night at Philadelphia.

It marked a surprising split of their two-game set, with both teams winning on the road. As a result, the 76ers are once again 1 1/2 games ahead of the Nets in the battle for second place behind Boston in the Atlantic Division.

The 76ers, with a chance to put some daylight between themselves and the Nets, were without one of their stars, Charles Barkley, and simply ran out of gas. The 76ers have had a distressing habit of performing poorly when they play on successive nights. Unfortunately for them, they have to do it 10 more times this season.

The Nets ended the 76ers’ impressive five-game winning streak and handed them just their second defeat in the last 15 games.

Tuesday night, the 76ers broke open a close game in the third period when Barkley scored half the points in a 12-1 spurt.

In this one, with Barkley nursing a back injury and sitting it out for the first time in 134 games, the Nets led by 13 at halftime but faltered slightly in the third quarter. Then, the Nets all but ran the 76ers off the court in the fourth quarter.

The 76ers, who shot 54.0% in their earlier victory, shot a paltry 38.9% in losing. After causing many of the Nets’ 36 turnovers Tuesday night, they didn’t assert much defensive pressure in this one, and the Nets had only 19 turnovers.

“For some reason, we weren’t ready to play a good team last night,” said the Nets’ Darryl Dawkins, who came off the bench to sink 8 of 10 shots and score 17 points in 20 minutes Wednesday night. “We were ready in this one.”

Another reason for the Nets’ turnabout was the play of guard Darwin Cook. The replacement for Micheal Ray Richardson, now undergoing drug rehabilitation, had a poor night in the Nets’ loss. He had 7 turnovers and only 8 points. In this one, he had 13 points, 15 assists and only 4 turnovers.

Boston 123, Denver 100--Slowly, but surely, Larry Bird is regaining his shooting touch. There has never been anything wrong with the rest of his game. At Boston, Bird had 24 points, making 11 of 16 shots, and added 14 rebounds and 9 assists to help the Celtics stop Denver’s five-game winning streak.

Bird, who has been shooting at a 45% clip most of the season, is shooting just under 60% for the last three games.

The Celtics broke the game open in the third quarter when they went on a 14-0 spurt. It was tied, 71-71, when the Celtics went on the spree. Danny Ainge had six points in the rally.

Portland 109, Indiana 104--With Sam Bowie, Kenny Carr and Jim Paxson out because of injuries and Darnell Valentine traded to the Clippers, the Trail Blazers have only eight players.

Because of the versatility of several of them, Coach Jack Ramsay figures he has 13 players.

One of those who can play only one position, shooting forward, paced the Blazers to victory at Indianapolis. Kiki Vandeweghe, going 11 for 19 from the field and 9 for 9 from the line, scored 31 points to lead the way.

Houston 119, San Antonio 113--The Rockets can win on the road. With Ralph Sampson scoring 30 points, Houston bounced back from its first defeat of the season at home Tuesday night to improve its road record to 6-12.

The Spurs, dealt a severe blow when they learned shortly before game time that playmaker Johnny Moore has meningitis and is out at least for this season, kept fighting back but couldn’t pull out the win.

Detroit 123, Chicago 115--Isiah Thomas scored 28 points and had 12 assists at Pontiac, Mich., to lead the Pistons to their second win in the last 10 games.

George Gervin scored 27 points for the Bulls.

New York 116, Dallas 112--Patrick Ewing scored 25 points at Dallas, and Gerald Wilkins made the key points in the stretch to lead the Knicks to victory. Wilkins scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to stave off a belated Dallas rally.

Golden State 150, Utah 104--The Jazz apparently was still celebrating their shocking win Tuesday night at Houston. Although leading scorer Adrian Dantley returned after missing three games with a hip injury, the Jazz trailed by 28 at halftime. Then things got worse.