NBA ROUNDUP : Warriors’ Nelson Is Finally an All-Star

Don Nelson, in a professional basketball career that began nearly 30 years ago with the Chicago Zephyrs, finally made it to the All-Star game.

Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway led the high-scoring Golden State Warriors to a 136-124 victory over Atlanta Wednesday night at Oakland to put Nelson at the helm of the Western Conference team in the game at Orlando Feb. 9.

The coach of the team with the best record after Sunday gets the job. The Warriors are 26-10 and with one game to play, lead Portland by 1 1/2 games.

Although he played on six championship teams with the Boston Celtics and twice was named coach of the year, this will be Nelson’s first All-Star game.

In the three wins in a row that clinched the berth, the Warriors scored 143, 135 and 136 points.

Chicago 115, Charlotte 112--On one of his rare off nights, Michael Jordan barely pulled out a victory for the Bulls at Charlotte.

With Larry Johnson having a big game, the Hornets took advantage of the Bulls’ lethargy to build a 112-108 lead with 78 seconds remaining.

But Jordan, who had made only five of 16 shots, scored five points as the Bulls pulled it out by scoring the last seven points.

Jordan’s jumper started the winning rally and Horace Grant tied it with a layup with 30 seconds left.

Johnson, who had 31 points and eight rebounds, drove the middle trying for the winning basket. He lost control, Jordan scooped it up, drove the length of the court, scored, was fouled and made the free throw with nine seconds to play.

The 11th victory in a row improved their record to 35-5.

New Jersey 106, Phoenix 104--East Rutherford, N.J., is no longer a rest spot for a team touring the East.

Derrick Coleman scored 28 points and Rafael Addison had nine of his 19 in the fourth quarter as the Nets withstood a late barrage of three-pointers to win their fourth in a row.

Boston 107, Orlando 95--With Reggie Lewis getting 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter at Boston, the Celtics battled back from an eight-point deficit to take over first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Celtics, who have played the last 10 games without injured stars Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, had a 16-2 run in the third quarter and went on a 14-0 spree in the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia 119, New York 109--Charles Barkley, who no longer speaks to reporters, let his game speak for him against the Knicks at Philadelphia.

Barkley had a season-high 37 points and 14 rebounds and the 76ers knocked the Knicks out of a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Miami 125, Washington 112--The Heat has emerged as the first of the four expansion teams with a chance to make the playoffs.

Glen Rice had 22 points and Rony Seikaly sparked a third-quarter surge that let the Heat improve its home record to 14-6.

Dallas 118, Milwaukee 116--Rookie Doug Smith scored 12 points in the fourth quarter at Dallas to help the Mavericks wipe out an 11-point deficit and end their 11-game losing streak.

Smith had a career-high 26 points and keyed the 39-point surge that carried the Mavericks to victory.

Cleveland 119, Indiana 115--Larry Nance sank two baseline jumpers in the last 73 seconds of overtime at Richfield, Ohio, to win a bitter battle.

Two fights erupted in overtime. The first involved George McCloud of Indiana and John Battle of Cleveland. The second was between Chuck Person of Indiana and Mark Price.

Utah 100, San Antonio 98--John Stockton sank three free throws in the last 16 seconds at Salt Lake City to give the Jazz its fourth victory in a row.