NBA Roundup : Celtics Trail at Half, 70-48, Win in Overtime

Larry Bird scored 17 points in the third quarter and finished with 41 to lead an amazing rally that carried the Boston Celtics to a 125-122 overtime victory at Atlanta Saturday night.

The Hawks, playing before the largest home crowd in their history, 16,522, appeared ready to put an end to a string of 11 consecutive home losses to the Celtics.

With Dominique Wilkins tossing in baskets from everywhere, the Hawks built a 27-point lead in the second quarter and were on top, 70-48, at halftime.

Then Bird went to work in the third quarter, leading a 32-18 surge that put the Celtics right back into the game.

In the fourth quarter, the Celtics ran off 14 consecutive points to take over the lead with five minutes left in regulation. With 22 seconds left, Eddie Johnson sank a jumper to tie the score at 112-112. When Robert Parish missed a shot at the buzzer, it was overtime.

Bird made four free throws in overtime, but it was a rebound basket by Bill Walton at 2:58 of the five-minute extra session that gave Boston the lead for good.

Bird, who had been having shooting problems this season until just recently, was 15 of 27 from the field and had 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.

Wilkins, sinking 13 of 24 shots, finished with 36 points to lead the Hawks. But he played 49 minutes and seemed worn out in the closing minutes. He missed two free throws in the last minute of regulation.

It seems that the Hawks, by taunting the Celtics, spurred them to their comeback.

“They weren’t about to build a franchise at our expense,” Dennis Johnson told the Associated Press. “When they started talking about how this was their night, we just decided to go at them a little.

“Even at halftime, things were upbeat. All the things the Hawks were saying got us fired up.”

Coach K.C. Jones of the Celtics had warned the league just a couple of days ago that Bird, the league’s Most Valuable Player the last two seasons, was back on his game.

Apparently, the Hawks had forgotten how well the 6-9 forward can play when he gets stirred up. Once again he carried the team with him.

Among those who responded was Parish. His hurried miss at the buzzer ending regulation play was only his third miss in 11 shots in the second half.

“I couldn’t believe it when they were yapping at me as they built up the big lead,” Parish said. “It kind of got me going.”

Houston 104, New York 95--Ralph Sampson scored 26 points and Akeem Olajuwon had 24, but it was three substitutes who brought the Rockets from behind in the last quarter to enable them to improve their home record to 21-1.

The undermanned Knicks, with Patrick Ewing scoring 25 of the points, built a 75-71 lead going into the last quarter.

But Robert Reid, Mitchell Wiggins and Jim Petersen came off the Rocket bench to ignite an attack that had been sputtering. The trio scored 18 of Houston’s first 20 points in the period.

Sampson and Olajuwon shut down Ewing in the fourth quarter, and the Rockets won going away.

New Jersey 124, Denver 113--On Friday night, Washington’s 7-7 Manute Bol intimidated the Nets’ 6-11 center, Mike Gminski. In a 116-96 loss at Landover, Md., Gminski had one of his worst games. He made only 1 of 10 field goal attempts and had only 7 rebounds.

In this game at East Rutherford, N.J., the Nuggets, playing their fifth road game in a week, were missing center Wayne Cooper, who has a knee injury.

The veteran Gminski, not about to let 7-0 rookie Blair Rasmussen bother him, made 7 of 9 shots from the field, finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Gminski had to be at his best because the Nets’ backup big man, Darryl Dawkins, was poked in the eye in the second quarter and had to leave the game.

The Nuggets were also without forward Calvin Natt, also because of a knee problem. This left most of the scoring to Alex English, who had 36 points.

Cleveland 108, Indiana 95--Mel Turpin scored 18 points in the second half at Richfield, Ohio, and finished with 27 to lead the Cavaliers to only their ninth victory in 21 home games.

The Pacers, who lost their eighth game in a row, led, 43-42, at halftime. But Cleveland scored the first nine points of the third quarter, four by World B. Free and three by Turpin. At the end of three quarters, the Cavaliers, with the help of 12 points by Turpin and 10 by Free, pulled out to a 78-65 lead.

Turpin also led all rebounders with 12. Rookie Dirk Minnifield had a career-high 18 for the Cavaliers.

The Pacers (10-30) have the worst record in the NBA. They have won only 2 of 20 on the road.

Portland 112, Phoenix 87--Clyde Drexler scored 24 points and had 12 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals at Portland to lead the Trail Blazers to an easy victory. Kiki Vandeweghe scored 26 for Portland.

Sacramento 98, Seattle 96--It wasn’t until Jack Sikma had a 13-foot jumper with one second left in overtime go in and then come out that the Kings were assured of their fourth consecutive victory at home. Sacramento blew a 10-point lead before pulling out the victory.

Eddie Johnson’s jumper with 31 seconds left in overtime was the decisive basket.