NBA ROUNDUP : Age Is No Burden to Parish

The Boston Celtics were without one of their big men, Kevin McHale, Sunday at Boston, so Robert Parish, 37 before the season began, took up the slack. McHale has a sprained ankle.

Despite needing a rest period for a chronic sore ankle, Parish had 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Celtics to a 110-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics, 49-17, lead the 76ers by 13 games with only 16 games to play.

Parish is a major reason for the Celtics’ success. When his scoring and rebounding fell off last season, there were reports the Celtics wanted to trade the 7-footer.

The Celtics had not won a championship for five years when they obtained Parish from Golden State in 1980. They won three in his first six seasons and he played a prominent role.

While Charles Barkley was sparking the 76ers with 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, Parish calmly led the Celtics to their 29th victory in 34 home games.

He put the Celtics ahead to stay, 46-44, with a layup in the second quarter, then made two free throws to end the game.

“We get him the ball in the paint and he always gets the shot off,” Larry Bird said. “Most of the time it goes in.”

Barkley, too, was impressed. “It don’t make any difference how old he is, he can play,” he said.

Milwaukee 102, New York 101--The Knicks had been playing their best ball of the season and had won five in a row. But they wasted a 14-point lead at Milwaukee and lost when Jack Sikma sank a baseline jump shot with six seconds remaining.

The Bucks scored the last six points after trailing from the start. Alvin Robertson made a jump shot, then stole the ball from Kiki Vandeweghe and scored again to cut the deficit to 101-100 with 32 seconds left.

Patrick Ewing, triple-teamed, threw the ball out of bounds. He then appeared to block Sikma’s shot, but in it went.

Ewing had 23 points and 16 rebounds.

Minnesota 90, Miami 87--Randy Breuer, buried deep on the bench until he emerged in Seattle to rally the Timberwolves to a victory Friday night, gave a repeat performance at Minneapolis.

Breuer, who had played sparingly since December, had 17 points and 14 rebounds in 31 minutes.

Indiana 130, Denver 92--The Pacer starters spent most of the game at Denver watching from the bench as the reserves romped by the Nuggets.

The Pacers, battling New York for seventh place in the East, are 3-1 on a trip that will end tonight in Phoenix.

Houston 123, Golden State 119--Hakeem Olajuwon is back and the Rockets are taking dead aim on the Midwest Division title.

Olajuwon, gradually regaining top form after an injury, had 25 points and 13 rebounds at Houston to lead the surging Rockets to their eighth consecutive victory.

On a streak that began before Olajuwon returned, the Rockets have won 19 of their last 23 games. They have charged into contention.

Jim Petersson led the Warriors with 25 points.

Charlotte 121, New Jersey 108--Dell Curry scored seven of his 16 points in a 17-2 run that put the Hornets in charge at East Rutherford, N.J., and they won handily.

It was the 19th victory for the Hornets, matching their total of last season, their first. The Hornets have 18 games to play.

“I’m sure,” Coach Gene Littles said, “we’ll reach our goal and win more than we did last season.