NBA ROUNDUP : Knicks Win for Riley in New York Debut

Pat Riley and Xavier McDaniel are both new to New York, but they made good first impressions in their regular-season debut at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.

McDaniel had 28 points and 13 rebounds to help the Knicks defeat the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-85, for Riley’s first victory as their coach.

The Knicks started the season with losses at Orlando and Miami.

“After what happened over the weekend, they were committed to come home and have a great home opener, and they did it,” said Riley, who compiled the best winning percentage in NBA history before he resigned as coach of the Lakers. “This team wants to win.”

McDaniel, acquired from Phoenix shortly before training camp, wanted to prove himself after scoring only 11 points in each of the Knicks’ losses.

“I got my (butt) kicked in two games in Florida,” McDaniel said. “I’ll be the first to admit it. After those two, the message I had for myself was stop stinking up the joint. I had to do everything quicker.”

Golden State 118, Chicago 110--Chris Mullin scored 38 points and led a 20-2 fourth-quarter run by the unbeaten Warriors at Chicago.

The Warriors have won their first three games for the first time since 1982-83. The Bulls fell to 1-2, despite 40 points from Michael Jordan.

Mullin scored seven of the Warriors’ first 11 points during the fourth quarter as they took a 98-94 lead.

The closest the Bulls got down the stretch was when Jordan made a three-point basket to cut the deficit to 113-107.

Houston 106, Portland 99--Vernon Maxwell scored 24 points and made the go-ahead basket with 1:17 left at Houston to help the Rockets beat the Trail Blazers for the first time since Nov. 7, 1989.

Maxwell’s basket gave the Rockets a 98-97 lead, their first since the first quarter, and they held on to end a seven-game losing streak against Portland.

Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 27 points and 20 rebounds.

Philadelphia 107, Washington 106--Hersey Hawkins scored the winning basket with 5.7 seconds left at Landover. Md., to give the 76ers their first victory.

Charles Barkley scored 33 points and had 19 rebounds for the 76ers, who narrowly avoided going 0-3 for the first time since 1972.

Armon Gilliam, who had 17 points, made a three-point play with 33.5 seconds left to pull the 76ers within 106-105. After the Bullets were called for a 24-second violation, Hawkins scored on bounce pass from Barkley to finish with 21 points.

Boston 93, Miami 89--The Celtics made six consecutive free throws in the final 63 seconds to clinch the victory at Miami.

The Heat, shooting 39% from the field, made 30 of 36 free throws. But rookie Steve Smith missed one with 12 seconds left that would have made the score 89-89.

Reggie Lewis led the Celtics with 25 points.

Detroit 117, Charlotte 93--Mark Aguirre came off the bench to score 22 points and get 10 rebounds for the Pistons, who outrebounded the winless Hornets, 53-34, at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Bill Laimbeer scored nine of his 16 points as the Pistons opened the second half with a 20-6 run, turning a 52-48 halftime lead into a 72-54 margin with 4:50 left in the third quarter.

Atlanta 98, Utah 94--Dominique Wilkins scored nine of his 25 points in the final six minutes and Blair Rasmussen made two shots from the corner in the final 1:42 to lead the Hawks at Atlanta.

The Jazz scored only one basket and two free throws in the final 7:01 and blew a 90-81 lead.

Seattle 98, Sacramento 87--Mitch Richmond scored 18 points for the Kings in his first game since being acquired from Golden State, but the Kings still lost their 39th consecutive road game.

Derrick McKey, who scored 20 points, and Gary Payton, who had 18, led a 16-4 second-half run that lifted the SuperSonics.

Cleveland 112, Dallas 101--The Cavaliers won their first game--and kept the Mavericks winless--as Larry Nance scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter at Dallas.

Indiana 111, Phoenix 105--Chuck Person scored seven of his 12 points during a 69-second span early in the fourth quarter at Phoenix as the Pacers handed the Suns their first loss. Reggie Miller scored 34 points for the Pacers.

Denver 97, San Antonio 96--Reggie Williams scored 24 points and made a layup with 6.7 seconds left as the Nuggets overcame a 14-point deficit at Denver.