NBA ROUNDUP : Spurs Beat Kings; Motta to Retire After Season

On the night Dick Motta announced that he would retire as coach after this season, the Sacramento Kings made a valiant effort to win their second road game in the last 53 tries.

But Rod Strickland, playing his first game of the season, rallied the San Antonio Spurs to a 101-90 victory Monday night.

Strickland, who missed the first 24 games before ending a lengthy holdout Sunday, moved right into the starting lineup.

Although he was a bit rusty, Strickland had 12 points and six assists. He played 35 minutes, making five of his 12 shots. He also had seven rebounds.

The Kings, with Mitch Richmond scoring 24 of his 35 points, built a 59-46 halftime lead. But they scored only 31 points in the second half.

With Sean Elliott getting eight of his 23 points, the Spurs scored more points (32) in the fourth quarter than the Kings did in the second half.

David Robinson made a big contribution, too, getting 20 points and 17 rebounds.

Motta, No. 3 in victories among NBA coaches, won a league championship in 1978 with Washington. He became the losingest coach in history when the hapless Kings lost Saturday.

Motta, 60, who never played college basketball, began his NBA career at Chicago in 1968. He also coached at Dallas. He resigned as coach of the Mavericks after they won 55 games in 1986-87. He became Kings’ coach during the 1989-90 season, but Sacramento has remained a doormat.

Motta would not elaborate on his reasons for retiring except to say, “It’s just a family decision. It’s time. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

He left immediately after the game, apparently without even talking to his players about his decision.

New Jersey 105, Atlanta 93--The Nets’ eighth victory in 26 games was a scary one at East Rutherford, N.J. They built a 26-point lead in the first half, then lost all but a point of it by the fourth quarter.

A tipin by Kevin Willis with three minutes to go cut the Net lead to 94-93.

Dominique Wilkins had 33 points for the Hawks, although the second period was half over before he made his first basket. It was the fifth loss in the last six games for Atlanta.

Charlotte 114, Philadelphia 106--Kendall Gill scored a career-high 31 points at Philadelphia and the Hornets ended a four-game losing streak.

Charles Barkley, facing a court case in Milwaukee today after a fight in a parking lot following Sunday’s game, had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the 76ers. The 76ers fell behind early and never caught up to the Hornets, who are 3-13 on the road.

Dallas 105, Houston 85--The Mavericks’ backcourt of Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper overwhelmed the Rockets at Houston.

The Rockets, who had won four in a row, fell behind in the second quarter and fell apart in the fourth.

Harper had 27 points and 11 assists, and Blackman also had 27 points. Harper scored eight points in a 16-0 run in the fourth quarter that made it a romp.

Cleveland 113, Utah 112--In probably the wildest game of the night, at Richfield, Ohio, Craig Ehlo sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cavaliers the victory.

In the last 25 seconds the lead changed hands four times.

Blue Edwards’ layup with 1.3 seconds to play gave Utah a 112-110 lead.

New York 97, Minnesota 91--Patrick Ewing had 25 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots at Minneapolis and the Knicks rolled to their seventh victory in eight games to help the Knicks take a half game lead over Boston in the Atlantic Division.

The Knicks built a 20-point lead in the third quarter but went scoreless the first four minutes of the last quarter and allowed the Timberwolves to make it respectable.

Miami 113, Orlando 102--Rony Seikaly, ignoring a broken finger, had 27 points and 11 rebounds at Miami and the Heat, for the first time in its four-year history, climbed over the .500 mark (14-13) in December.

On the other hand, Orlando is 0 for 11 in December and has only a 6-19 record.