NBA Roundup : Bird Outpoints Jordan, 44-39, in Battle for MVP Award

Larry Bird strengthened his case for a fourth Most Valuable Player award by scoring 44 points Thursday night in the Boston Celtics’ 126-119 victory over the Chicago Bulls at Boston. He then said he’d like to see Michael Jordan win the honor.

“Now that I’ve got a couple under my belt I could(n’t) care less,” Bird said. “Let him have one.”

Jordan, the NBA’s leading scorer, had 39 points for Chicago and admitted the MVP would “cap off a great season for me. Larry’s had a great season, but I’d like to win it.”

Chicago’s winning streak was stopped at six games. The Bulls (49-31) dropped into a tie with the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 3 playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have two games left. The No. 4 team ends up in Boston’s half of the playoff draw. No. 3 is in Detroit’s half.

Dennis Johnson scored 23 points, with 15 assists, and Kevin McHale added 20 points for the Celtics (57-23), who have clinched the Eastern Conference’s best record.

Philadelphia 104, New Jersey 101-- Charles Barkley scored 38 points and grabbed 19 rebounds at Philadelphia as the 76ers beat the Nets and set up a final weekend battle for the last two playoff berths in the NBA Eastern Conference.

Barkley’s two free throws and a tap-in basket in the final two minutes carried the 76ers to within one game of New York and Indiana and a half-game back of Washington in the four-team scramble for the final two postseason spots.

Each of the four teams has two games remaining, and New York and Indiana play each other. If the 76ers win at Cleveland and Detroit, they would extend their consecutive years in the playoffs to 13.

The loss was the 15th straight for the Nets. .

Detroit 99, Washington 87-- Adrian Dantley scored 31 points as the Pistons beat the Bullets at Landover, Md., and set a club record with their 53rd win this season.

Moses Malone had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Bullets, who were coming off their worst defeat of the season, a 132-94 drubbing by the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night.

San Antonio 117, Houston 116--Mike Mitchell sank a 15-foot jumper as time expired to give the Spurs the victory at Houston.

Akeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with a triple double, matching a season-high 38 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking a season-high 10 shots.