NBA Roundup : Suns Down Rockets, 119-111, Trail Lakers by 1 1/2 Games

The Phoenix Suns are doing their best to catch the Lakers before the regular season ends.

Tom Chambers scored 15 of his 27 points in the third quarter at Houston, and the Suns held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Rockets Thursday night to win their sixth straight game, 119-111, and move within 1 1/2 games of the Pacific Division-leading Lakers.

The Suns have five regular-season games remaining, the Lakers six.

“This is one of our closest games that we’ve won,” said Eddie Johnson, who scored two key baskets as the Rockets rallied in the closing minutes. “Usually, we win by bigger margins.”

Houston had cut the Suns’ lead to 112-109 with 2:02 remaining on Akeem Olajuwon’s turnaround jumper. But Johnson, who scored 24 points, got the Suns’ next two baskets for a 116-111 lead.

It was the Suns’ third straight victory over the Rockets.

Otis Thorpe scored 34 points for Houston, and Olajuwon had 33 points and 16 rebounds.

Atlanta 132, Boston 118--Moses Malone scored 29 points and Dominique Wilkins 27 at Atlanta as the Hawks routed the Celtics for their fifth consecutive victory.

The Hawks broke a third-place tie with idle Milwaukee in the Central Division battle for home-court advantage in the playoffs. The setback left the Celtics only 1 1/2 games in front of Washington in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Indiana 109, Chicago 105--LaSalle Thompson made a three-point play with four seconds left for the winning points at Indianapolis as the Pacers handed the Bulls their fourth straight loss.

Michael Jordan recorded his 13th triple-double of the season with 47 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.

Seattle 116, Miami 111--Xavier McDaniel, starting his fourth consecutive game in a major lineup change for Seattle, scored 35 points to lead the SuperSonics over the Heat, snapping a four-game homecourt losing streak.

McDaniel, an All-Star forward last season, who came off the bench as the Sonics’ sixth man in the team’s first 72 games this season, scored 14 points and Dale Ellis had 13 of his 24 points in the third quarter, as Seattle opened a 95-84 lead.

McDaniel replaced Michael Cage in the starting lineup.

Sacramento 121, Denver 112--Danny Ainge scored 12 of his 24 points in the final period at Sacramento to lead the Kings over the Nuggets.

Ricky Berry led Sacramento with 25 points, Wayman Tisdale added 19 and Kenny Smith and Jim Petersen each contributed 15. Alex English paced Denver with 31.