NBA Roundup : Cavaliers Get First Win at Boston Since ’78

With the best start in the National Basketball Assn., the Cleveland Cavaliers are among the elite in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers took one more step in the right direction Wednesday night, beating the Boston Celtics, 115-114, at Boston Garden.

It was the Cavaliers’ first victory at Boston since Oct. 13, 1978. They had lost 24 in a row to the Celtics on the road.

Ron Harper scored 14 of his 26 points in the first quarter, in which the usually defensive-minded Cavaliers built a 41-38 lead.

Although the Celtics pulled within one point five times, the last on a 3-pointer by Danny Ainge with 2 seconds to play, the Cavaliers never let them get even.

The Celtics are without Larry Bird, who will not return until March, but they had won 3 in a row, including a rout of the Lakers. Their streak came against teams with a combined record of 45-18.

Ainge, who has taken up some of the scoring slack, led all scorers with 29. Kevin McHale had 25 and Robert Parish 22, but the Celtics lost their fifth in 20 games at home. Last season they lost 5 of 41 home games.

In improving their record to 17-5, best in the league, the Cavaliers took a one-game lead in the tough Central Division. The Celtics were only the seventh team to score 100 points against the Cavaliers.

It was the sixth win in the last 7 games for the Cavaliers. Their only loss in the streak was at home to the Lakers Dec. 13.

“I don’t think we gave the 24-game losing streak a thought,” Cavalier Coach Lenny Wilkens said. “These players weren’t here when the streak started. Even I wasn’t here.

“This is a heckuva win for us. It really helps our confidence. We have been keeping our poise and keeping a focus on what we’re doing.

“A year ago we would have come here and tried to run them off the court. Tonight, we took our time and never lost our poise.”

The Celtics, one of the better shooting teams in the National Basketball Assn., had 30 more shots than the Cavaliers. But they made only 44 of 101. The Cavaliers, 29 of 41 in the first half, finished 46 of 71.

“Cleveland played extremely well,” Boston Coach Jimmy Rodgers said. “We played well enough to win most games, but not this one. Our guys showed great mental toughness. It was the kind of night, the way the Cavs were shooting, we could have been blown out.”

Utah 98, Washington 82--Over the years the Jazz have struggled on the road, but it has managed to find a haven at the Capital Centre.

Utah had lost all 4 games on this long trip East, but at its home away from home in Landover, Md., it prevailed again. The Jazz has won its last 5 at Landover.

Karl Malone scored 34 points and Thurl Bailey came off the bench to score 27 points, but it was the defense that throttled the Bullets, holding them to a season low.

The Bullets, who beat the Lakers in their previous game Sunday night, trailed only 77-72 with about 8 minutes remaining. But Bailey scored 6 points and Malone 3 in an 11-2 spurt that broke it open.

“We’ve been in all the games on this trip,” said Jerry Sloan, who replaced Frank Layden as Utah coach 8 games ago. “But the thing we had been having trouble with was the trap. We beat it tonight, and the Bullets stopped using it.”

New Jersey 122, Dallas 120--In the past 2 seasons, the Nets were 0-8 in overtime games. That was before Chris Morris.

For the second time in eight nights, the rookie from Auburn sank a 3-point field goal in the closing seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime at East Rutherford, N.J.

And, each time, the Nets came through in the 5-minute extra session to win. Last week they stunned the Lakers.

The Mavericks had won 5 in a row on the road, but, after the bomb by Morris wiped out a 3-point lead, they blew another 3-point lead in overtime.

Lester Conner and Buck Williams led a 7-2 spurt that wiped out a 118-115 lead.

It was only the second loss in 8 road games for the Mavericks.

San Antonio 125, Sacramento 107--The Spurs had not won since they upset the New York Knicks Dec. 3. But a tough defense at San Antonio forced the Kings into 28 turnovers, and the Spurs won easily.

With Greg Anderson scoring 17 points and Willie Anderson 16, the Spurs jumped in front early and built a 30-point lead to end an 8-game losing streak.

Milwaukee 112, Charlotte 100--The quality is there, the Hornets just don’t have the quantity of manpower to beat a good team.

In this game at Charlotte, the Hornets played the Bucks on even terms through 3 quarters, then faded in the last 12 minutes.

The Hornets led, 82-81, but Terry Cummings and Jack Sikma led a 13-4 surge that opened the fourth quarter and clinched the victory. Cummings had 32 points to total 69 in his last 2 games.

Seattle 109, Miami 101--A game with the Heat is a good time to give regulars a rest. Xavier McDaniel came off the bench to score 23 points and grab 13 rebounds at Miami.

The SuperSonics’ bench accounted for 65 points as the Heat fell to 1-21. Rookie Grant Long had 23 points for Miami.