NBA Roundup : Trail Blazers Finding the Road to Their Liking

Life on the road hasn’t been the typical National Basketball Assn. horror story for the Portland Trail Blazers.

“Our defense has enabled us to win some tough road games,” Blazer guard Terry Porter said after Portland won its fourth consecutive road game by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, 112-110, Tuesday night at Dallas. “We have so many road games coming up, and we need them if we want to move into second place in the conference.”

Dallas, the Midwest Division leader, is second in the Western Conference behind the Lakers, but the Trail Blazers moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Mavericks with the victory.

“This was absolutely a great win for us,” Portland Coach Mike Schuler said. “We played great against what we think is the second-best team in the league, both offensively and defensively.”

Jerome Kersey scored 33 points, and Clyde Drexler had 31 as the Trail Blazers won their sixth game in a row and ninth in their last 11.

Dallas, which trailed for most of the night, had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Rolando Blackman missed a driving layup with two seconds left.

“We got what we wanted on that play,” Blackman said. “Caldwell Jones rotated from the other side and cut me off, but he never fouled me or tipped the ball. I just missed it.

“It was probably the only non-controversial call of the night.”

After Mark Aguirre’s three-point shot with 18 seconds left cut Dallas’ deficit to 111-110, Porter missed a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left and Drexler made only one of two with eight seconds to play, giving Dallas an opportunity to tie the game on Blackman’s layup.

Dallas rallied from an eight-point deficit with just over seven minutes remaining.

“We made a tremendous run,” Dallas Coach John MacLeod said. “Our first two options on that last play were shut down, so we went to Ro (Blackman) and he just couldn’t get the shot down. We lost to a very good team tonight.”

Aguirre led Dallas, which lost for only the third time in 15 games, with 21 points. Sam Perkins, Blackman and Derek Harper each had 20 for the Mavericks.

Atlanta 143, Phoenix 113--Dominique Wilkins scored 41 points, and five of his teammates scored in double figures at Atlanta as the Hawks hit a season-high point total and snapped a three-game losing streak.

Wilkins, the NBA’s No. 2 scorer, hit a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer for his 23rd point, then sank another three-point shot to open the second half and give the Hawks to a 78-64 lead.

It was the Hawks’ seventh victory in 17 games.

Glenn Rivers had 19 assists for Atlanta, including a club-record 16 in the first half.

Mark West scored 23 points for Phoenix.

Indiana 117, Detroit 104--Indiana’s Vern Fleming had 18 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds at Indianapolis as the Pacers snapped a four-game losing streak.

It was Fleming’s third triple-double this season and fourth of his career, the most by any Pacer since the team entered the NBA in 1976.

“I just tried to help out the big guys and slip around people when they box out,” he said. “We knew that if we kept working hard and shooting well, we would win one soon.”

Reggie Miller and Steve Stipanovich each scored 22 points for Indiana.

Detroit, which had won seven of its last eight, had its lead over Atlanta cut to two games.

Dennis Rodman led Detroit with 21 points, including 13 in the second half.

Indiana outrebounded Detroit, 49-32, the Pistons’ lowest total of the season.

Houston 113, Denver 103--Sleepy Floyd broke an 89-89 tie on a follow shot with seven minutes remaining, triggering a 9-1 spurt that sparked the Rockets at Denver.

Floyd hit a 21-footer to give Houston an 89-86 lead, but Denver’s Danny Schayes answered with a three-point shot to tie the score.

But Floyd’s follow broke the tie and, Rodney McCray added a three-point play. After a Denver free throw, Cedric Maxwell hit a layup and Short connected on a 14-footer to give Houston a 98-90 lead.

Despite foul troubles in the second half, Akeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Schayes led Denver with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

The Rockets hit 51.1% from the field, compared with 37% for the Nuggets.

Milwaukee 119, San Antonio 101--Terry Cummings scored 27 points, and Randy Breuer added 23 at Milwaukee to lead the Bucks to their ninth victory in their last 12 games.

San Antonio lost its fifth consecutive road game. The Spurs are 4-22 on the road this season.

Alvin Robertson led the Spurs with 23 points, and Mike Mitchell added 21.

The Bucks played without injured starting guard Sidney Moncrief, who had a sore neck and shoulder.

San Antonio’s Dave Greenwood suffered a torn left Achilles’ tendon when he slipped in the second quarter.

Seattle 121, Golden State 116--Derrick McKey scored the tiebreaking basket with 36 seconds remaining in overtime and added a free throw with 25 seconds left as SuperSonics won at Oakland.

McKey’s layup made it 118-116, and his free throw gave Seattle a three-point lead. Kevin Williams added two more free throws with four seconds left.

Dale Ellis led Seattle with 29 points, including five in overtime. Xavier McDaniel added 20 for the Sonics, who had lost 9 of their previous 10 road games.

Chris Mullen’s 24 points paced the Warriors, who played without Ralph Sampson, Larry Smith and Terry Teagle.

Sampson may be out for the season with a knee injury, and Smith will not play again this season because of a recurring thigh injury. Teagle sat out due to bursitis in his right hip.