NBA ROUNDUP : Piston Guards Remain Tepid as Celtics Win

The Pistons talk confidently of three-peat--a third consecutive NBA championship.

They base these expectations largely on the play of their outstanding guard threesome--Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson.

For two seasons, it seemed at least one was always hot and often all three were.

All was well when this season opened, the three leading the Pistons to a 13-2 record. But, starting with the recent trip West, the sharpshooters have struggled.

Kevin McHale scored 24 points Friday night at Boston and the Celtics prevailed, 108-100.

While the Celtics have won 14 of their past 16, the Pistons have lost six of seven.

In this game Thomas and Dumars rallied the Pistons from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter to within 93-92. But Thomas missed a three-point basket that would have put Detroit ahead.

Brian Shaw and McHale, who had 24 points, then made baskets to keep Boston ahead.

Thomas had 26 points and the guards totaled 55, but they made only 23 of 50 shots. In the last seven games they are shooting only 44%.

Portland 106, Dallas 104--The Trail Blazers, smarting from a loss Thursday night at Sacramento, held off a rally by the visiting Mavericks to improve to 20-2.

After pulling within two points, the Mavericks’ Rolando Blackman, who led the rally, missed two jump shots in the last 22 seconds.

The Mavericks’ Alex English became the eighth player in NBA history to total 25,000 points.

San Antonio 116, Cleveland 106--In a rough game at Richfield, Ohio, in which several near-fights broke out, Willie Anderson kept his cool.

Anderson sank a 12-foot jumper in the last minute to send the game into overtime, then scored five quick points to spark the victory.

Washington 106, Houston 93--On a night when Bernard King couldn’t get on track, the Bullets had to look elsewhere for scoring help at Landover, Md.

The offense came from Darrell Walker and rookie A.J. English. Walker had a triple-double: 22 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. English came off the bench to score nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.

King was one for seven in the first half and had only 13 points.

But as cold as King was, he looked good compared to the Rockets’ Vernon Maxwell. Maxwell missed all 13 of his shots, two misses short of the NBA record held by several players.

Philadelphia 95, Miami 92--Only an outstanding performance by Charles Barkley prevented the Heat from pulling an upset at Philadelphia.

Barkley, on 12-for-15 shooting, had 35 points and 15 rebounds, barely enough to beat the stubborn Heat.

It wasn’t until Hersey Hawkins sank two free throws with five seconds left that victory was safe.