NBA ROUNDUP : Portland Thwarted by Kings

As the Portland Trail Blazers were on their way toward the best start in NBA history, Coach Rick Adelman had one major concern.

He knew his team, closing in on the record 23-1 start of the 1969-70 champion New York Knicks, would be ready to play any of the top teams.

What he was afraid of was a letdown against a weak team.

His worst fears were realized Thursday night at Sacramento. The Kings, with the worst record in the league, fought from a 19-point deficit to beat Portland, 100-88.

The Trail Blazers, runaway leaders of the Pacific Division, had won eight in a row, were 19-1 overall and 8-0 on the road.

Antoine Carr and Wayman Tisdale led the King surge, which cut a 38-19 deficit to 53-47 at halftime.

“Go ahead and say it,” Tisdale said. “The worst team in the NBA beat the best team in the NBA. We’ve been coming back on a lot of good teams lately.

“When we saw the look on their faces, we kept going. And when we saw the look in their eyes, we took it to them.”

Coach Dick Motta wasn’t around to see his club’s finest hour and only their fourth victory in 19 games. He was ejected for drawing his second technical foul late in the second quarter.

“My getting tossed wasn’t as big a factor as Leon Wood coming in and giving us a spark, or Lionel Simmons helping him at the guard line to allow us to go to (Anthony) Bonner,” Motta said.

Bonner, playing only his second NBA game, scored six of his 16 points in an 8-0 start of the second half that put Sacramento in front, 54-53. Bonner broke a leg in October and played his first game Tuesday night.

A 15-3 run over five minutes gave the Kings a 91-77 advantage with 2:37 to play.

Utah 141, Denver 126--Karl Malone scored 39 points and Jeff Malone had 29 at Salt Lake City as the Jazz waited until late in the third quarter to break the game open.

With 3:40 left in the third quarter, Utah led, 94-88. But John Stockton scored eight points in a 17-10 run that finished the Nuggets.

Orlando Woolridge led Denver with 29 points.

Phoenix 125, Orlando 114--The Magic held an 81-71 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter at Phoenix.

The Suns, though, had a little magic of their own in Kevin Johnson. Johnson, who scored 26 of his 38 points in the second half, stepped up the tempo and the Suns blistered Orlando.

Phoenix closed out the quarter, 16-4, to take the lead. Johnson scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and the rout was under way.

Golden State 129, Seattle 106--After falling behind, 55-50, in a sluggish first half at Oakland, the Warriors got on track in the second half.

Tim Hardaway, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the burst, led a blistering fast break that overwhelmed the SuperSonics in the third quarter.

In the first 7 1/2 minutes of the quarter, the Warriors outscored Seattle, 25-4.

Although reserves played most of the last quarter, the Warriors scored 79 points in the second half.

Atlanta 106, New Jersey 97--The Hawk fortunes began to change for the better soon after they replaced aging center Moses Malone in the starting lineup.

The 15-year veteran never complained when Jon Koncak moved ahead of him. And Malone has shown a willingness to come off the bench and lend a hand.

Malone and another veteran, Sidney Moncrief, came to the rescue in the fourth quarter at Atlanta to drive the Hawks to their fifth victory in the last six games.

Both Malone and Moncrief contributed eight points to the late surge that clinched the victory. In 20 minutes, Malone had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

New York 87, Minnesota 76--John MacLeod is just getting acquainted with the Knicks and he is beginning to like what he sees.

Charles Oakley had 22 points and 17 rebounds at Minneapolis to lead the Knicks their second victory in a row under their new coach.

“This is the way Charles Oakley used to destroy us at Phoenix and Dallas,” MacLeod said. “It’s sure nice to have him play that way for me.”

Patrick Ewing had 31 points and 15 rebounds for New York.