NBA Roundup : Injury-Riddled Celtics Routed by 76ers, 116-85

In their first season without Julius Erving in more than a decade, the Philadelphia 76ers are largely an unknown quantity.

According to Coach Matt Guokas, the 76ers need some confidence-building victories. They got one at Detroit Wednesday night.

Then Friday night, although the Boston Celtics were without their two star forwards, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, the 116-85 victory at Philadelphia was definitely another confidence builder.

It was the way the 76ers manhandled the injury-plagued Celtics that encouraged Guokas.

Bulky Charles Barkley looked around and noticed the two stars missing. Right away, he knew the court belonged to him. Barkley played only 32 minutes, getting 22 points (7 for 9 shooting) and 14 rebounds.

With Barkley showing the way, the 76ers sprinted to a 32-14 first-quarter lead and by late in the third had an overwhelming 86-49 advantage.

McHale, following off-season foot surgery, figures to be out until January. Bird, who has tendinitis in both Achilles’ tendons, will miss at least another game----tonight at New Jersey.

When their leader (Bird) missed Wednesday night’s game, the Celtics, spurred by the long-range bombs of Danny Ainge, overcame a 28-point deficit to beat New York in double overtime.

There was no rally forthcoming this time. Ainge was 0 for 4 in three-pointers and 1 for 10 overall. Shooting only 38.6%, the Celtics (7-2) were no match for the 76ers (3-3).

“We’ve been struggling since an opening win against Indiana,” Guokas said, “and we need victories like this.

“It’s still too early to tell how we’ll do. We can’t look back, because Dr. J (Erving) is gone. We have to forget the past and look to the future. Only a few victories will enable us to do that.”

The Celtics opened with Darren Daye and Fred Roberts as forwards, instead of Bird and McHale. They don’t figure to scare too many teams with that combination.

“When the Celtics have two All-Pros out,” Barkley said, “we can’t measure how good we are. But any win over them is good.”

It was the worst Celtic defeat at the hands of the 76ers in 21 years.

“I thought we played very poorly at both ends,” said Celtic Coach K.C. Jones, in an understatement.

Chicago 94, Atlanta 92--The Bulls keep telling everyone they are no longer (Michael) Jordan and garbage. They insist they are developing into a good team.

However, they are not forgetting who should get the ball when the going gets tough.

Jordan, defending NBA scoring champion, scored 9 of his 33 points in the last four minutes as the Bulls came from behind. His two free throws with 28 seconds left were the final points as the Bulls improved to 7-1.

Charles Oakley had 17 rebounds and 13 points for Chicago. Jordan also had 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks and 4 steals in 40 minutes. One of the blocks was on Dominique Wilkins’ shot with seven seconds left that would have tied the game.

Wilkins led all scorers with 36 points.

Denver 156, San Antonio 142--In this shoot-out at Denver, the Spurs just couldn’t keep up.

Alex English led the Nuggets with 30 points, but it was two new starters, Michael Adams at point guard and Dan Schayes at forward, who provided the spark for the offense.

Adams had 15 points and 9 assists, while Schayes had 26 points.

Utah 112, Indiana 81--The Pacers had won three in a row on the road, but they were no match for Karl Malone and his gang at Salt Lake City.

Malone, who has led the Jazz in scoring in every game this season, scored 9 of his 30 points in a 21-4 run that began late in the second period and turned the game into a rout.

Detroit 131, Golden State 108--Adrian Dantley had 18 points and a season-high 8 assists at Pontiac, Mich., as the Pistons handed the injury-weakened Warriors their fifth loss in a row.

The Warriors, without injured big men Larry Smith and Joe Barry Carroll, were never in the game. They trailed, 68-47, at halftime.

Portland 120, Washington 101--Clyde Drexler scored 32 points at Portland, and the Trail Blazers snapped a five-game losing streak.

Despite the absence of leading scorer Kiki Vandeweghe because of back spasms, the Blazers led throughout. Jerome Kersey, Vandeweghe’s replacement, scored 19 points.

Seattle 99, Milwaukee 97--Nate McMillan made a rebound basket at the buzzer at Seattle to snap the Bucks’ three-game winning streak.

The Bucks had beaten the SuperSonics six times in a row in the last three seasons.