NBA ROUNDUP : A Record and a Win for Isiah

First, Isiah Thomas set a record. Then he clinched the victory.

Thomas scored 22 points, including two layups down the stretch, to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 94-87 victory over the Houston Rockets Sunday at Auburn Hills, Mich.

During the third quarter, Thomas made two free throws to surpass Bob Lanier as the Pistons’ all-time career scoring leader. Thomas has 15,493 points, five more than Lanier.

“It’s great, but it’s not important as the championships we’ve won,” Thomas said. “The most important thing is that we won the game.”

Detroit led, 74-64, after three quarters, but Houston cut the lead to 78-74 with 8:23 to play.

Joe Dumars, who was only one of eight at that point, then made a jumper, a three-pointer and another jumper to up the lead to 11 points.

Houston trailed by five, 90-85, with 2:03 to play, but Thomas sank two straight shots to finish the Rockets.

Mark Aguirre added 18 points for Detroit, and Dennis Rodman had 11 and 17 rebounds.

Otis Thorpe led Houston with 20 points and 14 rebounds.

Portland 91, Washington 87--The Trail Blazers trailed, 30-23, after one quarter and by a point at halftime before holding on the beat the Bullets at Portland.

The Blazers were coming off Friday night’s 116-114 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls.

“I don’t know why we had such a difficult time getting started,” Portland Coach Rick Adelman said after Sunday’s game. “You have games like this after an emotional game like Chicago. It may have been difficult for us to get up.”

Clyde Drexler scored 20 points, including three free throws in the final 1:23, but he missed 15 of 23 shots after averaging 35 points in his previous six games.

“We aren’t playing as well as we are capable,” Drexler said. “I hope we get untracked on the road. It’s a matter of coming out and playing exciting ball for 48 minutes.”

Larry Stewart, a rookie free agent from Coppin State in Baltimore, led the Bullets with a season-high 19 points, 13 of them in the first quarter. A.J. English scored 18 points for Washington.