NBA Roundup : Houston Not Missing Its Guards--or Any Wins

The sudden loss of Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd earlier this week has done more to bring the Houston Rockets together than everything Coach Bill Fitch tried for two months.

Just when it appeared that the Rockets were about to play the way they did last season when they reached the championship round, the two guards tested positive for cocaine and were banned for life by the NBA.

On top of all the injuries and other problems that have beset the Rockets from training camp on, Fitch wondered if this wasn’t the final blow in a disastrous season.

Just the opposite has occurred. Robert Reid has moved in to become a sharpshooting guard, Ralph Sampson has shaken a season-long slump and Akeem Olajuwon has been Akeem Olajuwon.

Olajuwon scored 33 points and Reid 21 Friday night before 27,768 fans at Pontiac, Mich., and the Rockets knocked off the hot Detroit Pistons, 112-106. The Pistons had won 5 in a row, 20 of their previous 24 and 10 in a row at home.

The Rockets are 3-0 since Wiggins and Lloyd were banned.

Sampson sank two spectacular dunks early and the Rockets led almost from the start. They built a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter, then survived a 17-0 Piston spurt led by rookie John Salley, who scored nine of the points.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Fitch said. “I knew my guys would play as hard as they could, but I’m overwhelmed at the results. They know that even from the most negative situation a positive can be made.”

In the last three games, Olajuwon has 83 points and 36 rebounds; Sampson has 71 points and 45 rebounds, and Reid has 65 points and 15 assists.

Boston 133, Cleveland 128--The Celtics sank nine consecutive free throws in overtime at Boston, four of them by Larry Bird, to pull out the victory.

Ron Harper’s jumper from the side at the buzzer sent the game into overtime. Harper had 30 points. Bird had 35 and teammate Kevin McHale had 38 points and 10 rebounds.

“We were fortunate to come out with a win,” Celtic Coach K.C. Jones said. “We were terrible on defense.”

Dallas 124, Milwaukee 122--James Donaldson scored the last five Dallas points in overtime to give the Mavericks the victory at Milwaukee.

The Mavericks missed a chance to win in regulation when Sam Perkins missed a free throw with two seconds left. Perkins drove the middle and was fouled as he scored the basket that made it 110-110.

Terry Cummings had a career-high 39 points for the Bucks.

Seattle 134, Denver 100--Tuesday night at Denver, the SuperSonics built a 20-point lead in the third quarter but it wasn’t enough. In this game at Seattle, they built a 42-point lead in the third quarter. Despite a 21-4 Denver rally, the lead did hold up.

Xavier McDaniel had 30 points and Tom Chambers 29 to help build the big lead. Neither played in the fourth quarter.