NBA ROUNDUP : Reheated Trail Blazers Cool Rockets, 103-93

There isn’t much doubt that the Portland Trail Blazers, who opened as the hot team, are once again the hot one.

After a momentary lull about a month ago, the Trail Blazers are blazing to the best record in the NBA.

The Blazers, who should have been a bit road weary, wore down the Rockets in the third quarter Tuesday night at Houston and won going away, 103-93.

Portland, playing its fifth game on the road in seven nights, fell behind, 66-54, in the third quarter. The Rockets, who won 17 of their previous 18 games, seemed to be in a position to win again.

But Clyde Drexler led the turnaround. He scored 11 of his 26 points as the Blazers outscored the Rockets, 29-9, to take an 83-75 lead into the last quarter.

It was the 11th victory in a row, matching their season-opening spurt and their eighth in a row on the road. They lead the Lakers by three games in the Pacific Division with just six games remaining. Their 58-18 record is two games better than Chicago for the best overall mark.

The loss dropped the Rockets two games behind San Antonio in the tight race in the Midwest Division. One consolation: the Spurs have to face the Trail Blazers tonight at San Antonio.

The tough Portland defense held the Rockets to only 45 points in the second half. One of the problems was the Rockets were tossing up three-pointers and they weren’t going in the basket. They were seven for 18.

Chicago 108, New York 106--The Bulls barely avoided their third consecutive home loss in another disappointing performance.

After building a 13-point lead with seven minutes left in the game, they blew it.

Kenny Walker of the Knicks sank two free throws with 42 seconds remaining to tie the score, 106-106.

With the 24-second clock running down, John Paxson sank an 18-footer. It turned out to be the winner when Bill Cartwright knocked the ball away from Patrick Ewing as the New York center was driving for a tying basket.

With eight seconds left, the Knicks had the ball out of bounds. But Cartwright stole a pass to end the threat.

Milwaukee 105, Detroit 95--Adrian Dantley, in his fourth game back after almost a year in retirement, played a big role as the Bucks won at Milwaukee.

Dantley scored eight points in a 12-5 run in the fourth quarter that broke open a close game and put the Bucks just a game behind the Pistons in the battle for second place in the Central Division.

Dantley had 11 points in 17 minutes.

Atlanta 104, Cleveland 98--The Hawks overcame an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit and ended their six-game road losing streak.

The Hawks held the Cavaliers, who led, 85-77, to 13 points in the last 12 minutes. Glenn Rivers’ three-point play with 1:24 left clinched the third win in a row for the Hawks.

Dominique Wilkins had 25 points for the Hawks, and Moses Malone came off the bench to get 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Indiana 122, Charlotte 120--The Pacers never led at Charlotte until Reggie Miller sank a 20-foot jumper with seven seconds remaining to give them the victory.

The Hornets, who led by 12 points in the third quarter, missed a chance for overtime when Muggsy Bogues blew a layup as time ran out.

Minnesota 109, New Jersey 89--Backup center Felton Spencer had 17 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks at Minneapolis to lead the Timberwolves to victory.

The Nets have lost six in a row by a total of 122 points.

Phoenix 120, Golden State 106--Jeff Hornacek scored 31 points at Phoenix and the Suns beat the Warriors for the 11th time in a row.

The Suns played without injured stars Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers and Dan Majerle.

Sacramento 113, Dallas 104--Rookie Lionel Simmons had 35 points as the Kings improved their home record to 21-16. On the road they are 1-37.