NBA Roundup : Bird Makes Free Throws for Celtics in Knick of Time

With the Boston Celtics struggling, they went to their main man.

Larry Bird didn’t make the go-ahead basket, but he was fouled and made two free throws with 39 seconds left and the Celtics overcame the New York Knicks, 95-93, Monday night at Hartford, Conn.

“In the huddle, we diagrammed a play to get Larry the ball,” Danny Ainge said. “He got fouled and that’s the way we wanted it to work out.”

Boston handed New York its 18th consecutive road defeat. The Knicks are 1-23 away from Madison Square Garden this season.

Bird, who scored 36 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, scored the go-ahead points 13 seconds after the Knicks tied the score, 91-91, on Sidney Green’s basket.

Dennis Johnson, who scored 19 points, added two free throws with 16 seconds left to give the Celtics a 95-91 lead before New York’s Kenny Walker scored at the buzzer.

Bird, who has 16,964 career points, passed Bob Cousy, who had 16,955, moved into second place in the all-time list for Boston. John Havlicek leads with 26,359 points.

Dallas 114, Phoenix 107--Roy Tarpley collected 27 points and 23 rebounds as the Mavericks stretched their winning streak to five games by downing the Suns at Dallas.

Tarpley became only the third Maverick in team history to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game, joining James Donaldson and Sam Perkins as 20-20 club members.

Golden State 123, San Antonio 111--Otis Smith came off the bench to score 23 points and the Warriors turned back the Spurs at Oakland.

Alvin Robertson’s three-point play gave the Spurs a 35-32 lead, but the Warriors took the lead for good with 12 straight points--four each by Terry Teagle, Tellis Frank and Smith.

Denver 100, Washington 87--Danny Schayes scored 21 points and Alex English hit for seven straight points early in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets pulled away from the Bullets at Denver.

Houston 119, Philadelphia 106--Sleepy Floyd scored 20 points and the Rockets sent the 76ers to their 15th straight road loss at Houston.