NBA Roundup : Consistent Pistons Keep Winning, Have No Trouble With Nets, 112-96

It doesn’t necessarily mean they will win the championship that barely eluded them last year, but the Detroit Pistons are playing the best basketball in the NBA.

The Pistons are winning the games they should and others besides. They are the only team consistently playing well every night.

An example was Friday night at Auburn Hills, Mich. The Pistons were an overwhelming favorite over the New Jersey Nets, and they did indeed overwhelm the Nets, 112-96, for their fourth victory in a row and 12th in 13 games during March.

The late-season charge has brought the Pistons from five games behind Cleveland in the Central Division to a half-game ahead.

Their only loss so far this month was the one that figured, at Milwaukee.

Joe Dumars scored a regular-season career-high 35 points, hitting 15 of 20 shots as the Pistons, despite a lapse in the third quarter, had no trouble handing New Jersey its ninth consecutive defeat.

There were some experts who felt that the Pistons made a mistake when they traded Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre, the troubled star of the Dallas Mavericks.

Although he is not scoring as much as he did for Dallas, Aguirre seems to have fit in with the Pistons. Their surge to the best record in the league began shortly after he joined them.

“Those who thought Mark wouldn’t be an asset to our club are learning that he does,” Coach Chuck Daly said. “He is giving us just what we needed. And he will get more accustomed to his new teammates and be ready for a big contribution in the playoffs.

“Ever since Joe (Dumars) recovered from his injury, he has been a strong performer for us. This one reminded me of the last game against Boston in the playoffs, when he couldn’t miss and also had 35 points.”

Chicago 128, Portland 113--The Bulls made it three wins on the road in four nights over the best teams in the West.

Chicago has been a vastly improved team since Michael Jordan, rather reluctantly, became the point guard.

Jordan made the big plays in one-point wins over the Lakers Tuesday night and Phoenix Wednesday night. Those are the 1-2 teams in the West.

In the game at Portland, Jordan had 33 points and 17 assists to guide the Bulls to an easy victory.

Philadelphia 135, San Antonio 122--Except for five turnovers, Charles Barkley was just about perfect at Philadelphia.

The bruising 76er forward was 10 for 10 from the field, two of them three-pointers, and was 9 for 9 from the foul line. He also blocked a shot and had three steals, six assists and seven rebounds.

The entire starting lineup shot well for the 76ers, making 34 of 42 attempts from the field and 29 of 29 free throws.

“I didn’t know I didn’t have any misses,” Barkley said. “I don’t think about it if I’m going good, only if I have a poor game.”

Boston 115, New York 111--The Celtics have shown signs lately that if they could just get injured Larry Bird back, they might be a factor in the playoffs.

Boston has won nine of its last 12 games mainly because of three recent acquisitions--Joe Kleine, Ed Pinckney and Kevin Upshaw.

One thing they have done is enable Coach Jimmy Rodgers to cut the playing time of veterans Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson.

In the game at Boston, McHale and Johnson were keys to the win. McHale scored 29 points, and Johnson scored six of his 20 in the last two minutes.

The Celtics led most of the game, and it was 104-93 with 5:27 remaining. But the Knicks’ pressing defense forced two turnovers. The Knicks scored 12 points in a row, six by Kiki Vandeweghe, to take the lead. Then Johnson took over for the Celtics.

Utah 102, Houston 99--The Rockets, with a chance to keep the race alive in the Midwest Division, built a 77-66 lead after three quarters at Houston.

But John Stockton led the Jazz in a closing rush to the victory that extended Utah’s division lead to five games over Denver and dropped Houston into third place.

The Rockets have lost 13 of their l7 games despite brilliant play by Akeem Olajuwon. The Rocket center had 36 points and 12 rebounds. He has scored 30 or more points in five of the last six games.

Denver 114, Dallas 105--The Mavericks have gone down so rapidly since losing Roy Tarpley, James Donaldson and Mark Aguirre that they are now just about as weak as the expansion teams.

The Nuggets, who have been a poor road team, took charge early at Dallas and breezed to the victory. They built a 70-55 lead by halftime and, despite 30 points by Adrian Dantley, were never in danger.

Their fifth victory in a row put the Nuggets in second place in the Midwest Division. Although it was their second straight road victory, the Nuggets are only 8-25 away from Denver.