NBA Roundup : Hawks Soar With Rivers, Wittman

Early in the season, when the Atlanta Hawks were the surprise team in the National Basketball Assn., their guard combination of Glenn Rivers and Randy Wittman was scintillating.

But injuries hampered Rivers, and Wittman missed 12 games because of a knee injury. Not surprisingly, the Hawks slumped.

For the first time in more than a month, Rivers and Wittman were in there when it counted Tuesday night at Atlanta, and they rallied the Hawks for a 107-103 victory over the Detroit Pistons. The win put the Hawks just a half-game behind the Pistons in the tight Central Division race.

Dominique Wilkins led the Hawks in scoring, but it was Rivers and Wittman who did the scoring in the clutch. The Pistons led, 91-84, with 7:38 remaining. But the Hawks rallied to tie three times before Rivers sank a jumper to give them a 102-101 lead with 98 seconds left. Wittman, who scored 18 points in his third game since recovering from his injury, made two free throws.

The Hawks also got a big game from Kevin Willis, playing center in the absence of injured Tree Rollins. Willis played 43 minutes, made 8 of 13 field-goal attempts and had 15 rebounds. Wilkins was 9 for 9 from the line but was only 13 for 35 from the field.

The tight defensive play caused both teams to shoot poorly. The Pistons connected on 42.4% of their shots, and the Hawks were even worse (41.6%).

“We have emerged from the darkness,” Wilkins said. “In our darkest days, when we had so many injuries, we never gave up.”

San Antonio 131, Denver 126--Alvin Robertson stole one from the Nuggets at San Antonio.

With the score tied, 124-124, and 49 seconds left in overtime, Robertson, the NBA’s leader in steals, grabbed an errant Bill Hanzlik pass and drove for the basket that gave the Spurs the lead for good. The Spurs had lost four in a row.

Robertson missed a last-second jumper in regulation after teammate Walter Berry had tied the game, 116-116, with 35 seconds left.

Alex English scored 41 points for the Nuggets.