NBA Roundup : Wilkins, McGee Shoot Atlanta Out of Its Slump

After getting off to the best start in the NBA, 18 wins in the first 22 games, the Atlanta Hawks went into their first slump shortly before Christmas.

They won only two of the next five and even those victories were hard to come by. Four days off over New Year’s, they hoped, would straighten things out.

At halftime Friday night in Atlanta, it did not appear that the Hawks were out of their slump. With Moses Malone dominating play at both ends of the court, the Washington Bullets held the Hawks to 13 points in the second quarter and led, 60-46.

Then, Dominique Wilkins took command. Last season’s scoring champion made 7 of 10 shots in the second half, and the Hawks caught up in the third quarter, then rolled to a 118-101 victory.

Wilkins, who finished with 30 points, had offensive help from former Laker Mike McGee. McGee, playing just 25 minutes, scored 27 points, 13 of them in the last quarter as Atlanta broke it open.

The slump definitely is over. In the second half the Hawks outscored the Bullets, 72-41.

“I was determined to come out of the box in the third quarter,” Wilkins told the Associated Press. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the big guy’s (Tree Rollins) play on the boards. Once we got our momentum back, we started to roll.”

McGee, summoned into the game earlier than usual when Doc Rivers and Randy Wittman each picked up two quick fouls. He scored 13 points in the last five minutes of the first quarter.

“We talked it over at halftime, and decided we had to go to work,” McGee said. “We like to get the ball out and run, get the fast break going.”

Atlanta Coach Mike Fratello credited McGee for “making the big shots to get us going,” and Rollins for “big defensive plays.”

Rollins grabbed 12 rebounds, six on the offensive boards and blocked three shots.

“It was two completely different halves of basketball,” Fratello said. “If you’re going to be any good in this league, you’ve got to play 48 minutes.”

With their fast start it appeared the Hawks were going to run away with the Central Division. But, Detroit and Milwaukee have indicated it will be a three-team race.

The three Central teams are among the top six teams in the NBA.

Boston 113, Chicago 99--On the hapless Bulls, Michael Jordan, is just about the only player you would want to shoot the ball. But, on the world champion Celtics, everyone can shoot.

So, in Jordan’s first appearance at Boston since he scored a record 63 points in a playoff game last spring, he fired up 31 shots and wound up with 34 points. But Larry Bird and Kevin McHale of the Celtics shot the ball only 32 times between them and wound up with 66 points, 37 for Bird.

However, Jordan led a Bulls’ rally that cut a 25-point deficit to just six points halfway through the fourth quarter. Here, McHale took over and made three consecutive hook shots and 10 points to preserve the victory.

The Bulls had Jordan, 6-6, guarding the 6-9 Bird and it didn’t work. Bird made 11 of 18 shots and had eight rebounds and nine assists. McHale was 10 for 14 and had nine rebounds. It was the fifth win in a row for the Celtics.

Jordan was 13 for 31. The rest of the Bulls were 26 for 61.

Detroit 129, New Jersey 128--There are a number of pro basketball experts who believe Vinnie Johnson of the Pistons is the best pure shooter in the NBA.

Add Dave Wohl, coach of the Nets to this list. Johnson was 7 for 7 in the last quarter to enable the Pistons to hold off the long-distance shooting of Leon Wood.

Wood sank two three-pointers in a row in the last 15 seconds, but they came too late to give the Nets the victory.

Johnson was only shooting two-pointers, but he made three of those in the last 2 1/2 minutes.

Milwaukee 91, Cleveland 84--Ricky Pierce came off the bench to score 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter at Richfield, Ohio as the Bucks came from behind to win a defensive struggle.

The Cavaliers led, 75-71, with 7:32 to play, but the Bucks outscored them, 20-9, the rest of the way. Pierce had six of the points, while Jack Sikma and Paul Pressey each had four.

The Bucks have won four in a row. The third-place team in the Central Division has the sixth-best record in the league (20-11).

Philadelphia 104, Utah 99--Julius Erving, in his final appearance at Salt Lake City, gave Jazz fans something to remember him by. With the score tied, 95-95, Erving scored four points and Charles Barkley three in a 7-0 run that broke the game open.

Barkley finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Erving, honored before the game, had 14 points.

Mark Eaton had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocked shots for Utah.

Dallas 117, Seattle 107--Mark Aguirre scored 27 points at Dallas to lead the Mavericks to their third win in a row and a 1 1/2-game lead in the Midwest Division.

However, the Mavericks didn’t please Coach Dick Motta. “We played like I felt tonight----lousy,” Motta said. “I hope I’m the last one on the team to come down with the flu.”

Houston 114, Denver 111--Akeem Olajuwon scored 32 points at Denver, but it was a clutch 10-foot jumper by Lewis Lloyd with 14 seconds left that clinched the victory.

Lloyd’s basket gave the Rockets a three-point lead and victory when Lafayette Lever’s three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the front of the rim.

Golden State 115, Sacramento 109--Joe Barry Carroll scored 35 points at Oakland as the Warriors handed the Kings their fourth consecutive loss. Reggie Theus led the Kings with 30 points.