NBA ROUNDUP : Bird Shows He’s Back in Form With 40 Points

For the first quarter of the season, Larry Bird’s shooting touch has been missing. Back after being out of all but the first six games last season because of surgery on both heels, he is playing without pain but without his accustomed shooting success.

Through 20 games, he was making only 46% of his shots.

The magic touch came back Wednesday night at Boston, and Bird scored 40 points in leading the Celtics to a 109-97 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

As the Celtics ended a two-game losing streak and improved their record to 12-9, Bird was 17 for 27 from the field. He also had 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double of the season.

Bird, playing all but two minutes, had 23 points in the first half to help build a 51-42 lead and the SuperSonics never threatened in the second half.

The performance by Bird, who reached 18,391 points to pass Julius Erving and become 21st on the all-time scoring list, spoiled the return of K.C. Jones.

Jones, who was coach when the Celtics last won the championship, is an assistant coach for the Sonics. He was given a standing ovation by the Boston fans.

Bird opened the game by racing downcourt, taking a pass from Dennis Johnson and making a 16-footer. He didn’t stop running the rest of the night.

“He played a lot because he was on fire,” said Jimmy Rodgers, who succeeded Jones last season.

“Everyone is worrying about my shot, but I’m not,” Bird said. “I just keep practicing, knowing it will come. It was a little better tonight.”

After making all four of his free throws, Bird has a streak of 38 in a row.

Cleveland 99, Milwaukee 93--The return of injured Larry Nance has given a lift to the Cavaliers, who have won all three games since he came back.

In this victory at Richfield, Ohio, Nance showed no ill effects from the major surgery on his ankle last season. He had 31 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.

“When the ankle didn’t hurt after two games, I decided to go all out,” Nance said. “I feel great.”

He finished with four points in the last minute to stop Milwaukee’s last threat.

Philadelphia 112, Atlanta 103--Charles Barkley chastised his teammates for their lack of effort Tuesday night in a loss to New Jersey.

Hersey Hawkins and Johnny Dawkins took it to heart and the 76ers put a stop to the Hawks’ seven-game winning streak in this game at Philadelphia.

Hawkins had 27 points, and Dawkins had 23 points and nine assists.

Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins had a game-high 38 points.

Golden State 134, Denver 114--Chris Mullin, who did not get off to a good start this season, destroyed the visiting Nuggets.

Mullin had 33 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to lead the Warriors’ romp.

Mullin had a lifetime rebound average of 3.3 per game.

Dallas 90, Minnesota 87--The Timberwolves continue to play tough games, but they also continue to lose.

The Mavericks, although they scored only nine points in the fourth quarter at Minneapolis, held on to hand the Timberwolves their 15th loss in 20 games.

Utah 102, Phoenix 95--John Stockton had 22 points and 15 rebounds at Salt Lake City and the Jazz rode a 11-0 run late in the game to victory.

Eddie Johnson’s basket with 3:38 left gave the Suns an 88-83 lead. But they failed to score for 2 1/2 minutes and fell behind. Karl Malone’s jump shot with 1:38 put Utah ahead to stay.

The Suns led by 16 points in the second quarter, but without playmaker Kevin Johnson, couldn’t stay ahead.