NBA ROUNDUP : Cavaliers Rally for 10th in Row

The Washington Bullets were giving Cleveland the runaround and it looked as if the Cavaliers’ nine-game winning streak was over.

The Cavaliers fell behind by 17 points after being held scoreless for five minutes, but they rallied to defeat the Bullets, 99-92, Thursday night at Landover, Md.

“We were trying to help too much,” said Coach Lenny Wilkens, who told his Cavaliers to stop running around on defense. “We got out of position, with two guys going to one man and leaving someone open.

“We made those corrections, and once you get everybody in sync, you’re able to play defense the way you’re supposed to.”

Mark Price scored 25 points and Cleveland cranked up its defense to move within one game of the franchise record for consecutive victories set during the 1988-89 season. Their six-game road winning streak also is one short of a franchise record.

The Bullets used a 17-0 run to take a 40-23 lead, but Terrell Brandon made a reverse layup to end the Cavaliers’ scoring drought and start an 11-2 surge that put Cleveland back in the game.

Cleveland cut the gap to 50-46 by halftime, then used a 22-6 surge to take the lead for good. With Washington clinging to a 57-50 advantage, Price and Craig Ehlo each had six points as the Cavaliers took a 72-63 lead.

“We came back with our defense,” Cleveland’s Larry Nance said. “We played hard D and executed our offense. We took the good shot when we had it.”

The Bullets eventually closed to 89-88 with 4:10 left, but Price hit a driving layup and Brad Daugherty made a hook shot to make it 93-88, and Washington was en route to its third consecutive loss.

Daugherty had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Cleveland, and Nance had 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Harvey Grant had 25 points and Pervis Ellison added 24 for Washington.

Atlanta 124, Dallas 108--Dominique Wilkins scored 32 points and Kevin Willis had 24 points and 13 rebounds as the Hawks defeated the Mavericks at Atlanta for their sixth consecutive victory.

Dallas, losing its sixth in a row, fell behind, 32-13, in the first 9:30 and never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

Stacey Augmon added 16 points, Paul Graham had 13 and Blair Rasmussen scored 12 for the Hawks, who made 28 free throws without a miss and had only one turnover in the first half.

Derek Harper scored 24 points for Dallas, including nine in a row in one stretch.

Charlotte 109, Sacramento 96--Kendall Gill scored 26 points and rookie Larry Johnson added 23 points and 16 rebounds as the Hornets beat the Kings at Charlotte.

Leading 97-90, the Hornets put the game away with a 9-0 surge with less than three minutes left.

Sacramento failed to score for 4:47 in the final quarter, missing 15 consecutive shots.

After building an 11-point lead late in the second quarter, the Hornets were never threatened.

Johnny Newman added 24 points for the Hornets.

Mitch Richmond scored 23 for the Kings, with Lionel Simmons and Dennis Hopson each scoring 17.

The last time the Kings played at Charlotte, they were trounced, 101-59, on Jan. 10, 1990.