NBA ROUNDUP : Dumars Scores 45 in Thomas’ Absence

Joe Dumars scored 33 of his career-high 45 points in the second half as the Detroit Pistons spoiled Don Nelson’s 2,500th NBA game by defeating the Golden State Warriors, 119-112, Thursday night at Oakland.

Nelson is the first to participate in 2,500 NBA games, playing 11 seasons and 1,312 games for the Boston Celtics, then coaching 1,188 games in 14 seasons, first with Milwaukee, then with Golden State.

Playing without Isiah Thomas, Detroit won its sixth in a row for its longest winning streak of the season. Orlando Woolridge added 23 points and John Salley 20, and Dennis Rodman grabbed 21 rebounds, the 32nd game he has had 20 or more this season.

Thomas sat out the game with a strained right calf muscle.

Tim Hardaway scored 30 points and Chris Mullin added 26 for Golden State, which had a three-game home winning streak ended.

“I missed a few open shots in the first half,” Dumars said. “I was sitting (at halftime) thinking, ‘If I get those shots in the second half, I’m going to look for them.’ ”

“Joe took it on as a personal challenge,” Piston Coach Chuck Daly said. “Tim (Hardaway) goaded him a little bit, good-naturedly, but he came out and took it on himself maybe because we were without Isiah.”

The Pistons took an 84-70 lead into the final quarter and led, 91-78, before the Warriors went on a 15-5 run, pulling within 96-93 on Mullin’s three-pointer with 7:05 to play.

The Pistons answered with seven consecutive points, taking a 103-93 lead on a three-pointer by Dumars with 5:31 to play.

San Antonio 104, Houston 98--David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon brought out the worst in each other at San Antonio. Neither player hit a shot from the field in the first half and Olajuwon made only two all game as the Spurs won their ninth in a row at home.

Robinson finished with 15 points, getting nine in the fourth quarter. But Olajuwon wound up with only six, going two for 13 from the field in 30 foul-plagued minutes to end his streak of consecutive games in double figures at 199.

Robinson had 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots. Olajuwon was limited to seven rebounds.

With Terry Cummings scoring a season-high 31 points and Rod Strickland getting 12 of his 19 in the fourth quarter, the Spurs stayed within a half-game of the Phoenix Suns in the race for fourth place in the West.

San Antonio led by 20 points early, using a 12-2 run for a 47-27 lead. But Houston scored the final nine points of the second quarter and the first five of the third to draw within 47-41.

A 13-7 run by the Rockets later in the quarter left the game tied, 54-54. San Antonio used an 11-0 rally early in the fourth quarter, including five points from Robinson, to go ahead, 78-65, with nine minutes to play. Houston came no closer than six the rest of the game.

Vernon Maxwell led the Rockets with 24 points, and Otis Thorpe and Kenny Smith each had 20.

“They scored their points from the line and we had to make ours from the field,” Smith said. Houston attempted 15 free throws, 12 fewer than San Antonio.

Cummings, who had 26 of his points in the first three quarters, also got Thorpe in early foul trouble.

“I thought the key was that we played hard and asserted ourselves,” Cummings said.

Olajuwon had not been under 10 points since scoring nine at Utah on April 1989.

Phoenix, 106, Milwaukee 100--Tom Chambers scored 26 points and Cedric Ceballos added a season-high 25 as the Suns ended an eight-game road losing streak with a victory at Milwaukee.

It was the Suns’ first victory in Milwaukee since March 12, 1986.

Moses Malone, who led the Bucks with 17 points, scored the first basket of the fourth quarter as Milwaukee took a 77-75 lead.

But the Suns’ Mark West made a three-point play and Ceballos and Dan Majerle each scored four points as the Suns went ahead, 89-77, with a 14-0 run.

Jeff Hornacek finished with 17 points and Majerle had 14 for the Suns. Chambers sprained his left ankle late in the third quarter and did not return.

Utah 114, Sacramento 103--Karl Malone scored 40 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Jazz withstood a fourth-quarter rally to win at Sacramento.

Utah, which won its fifth consecutive game, held a 16-point halftime advantage and an 88-76 margin entering the fourth quarter.

But the Kings, who shot only 34.8% in the first half, opened the fourth quarter with 10 points in a row and trailed, 96-94, on Lionel Simmons’ short jump shot with 5:30 left in the game.

The Jazz got 19 points from Jeff Malone, and John Stockton had 16 points and 12 assists. Mitch Richmond led the Kings with 26 points.