NBA ROUNDUP : O’Neal Wins Showdown With Ewing

The second matchup between Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing went down to the last second.

With the Orlando Magic clinging to a one-point lead, the New York Knicks cleared the lane to let Ewing work for the final shot against O’Neal.

The two big men were bumping hard before the ball was passed inside, and they banged as Ewing took an off-balance hook. The shot missed, O’Neal grabbed the rebound and dribbled to midcourt to run out the clock as the Magic held on for a 95-94 victory Friday night at Orlando.

“I’m upset about the way it ended,” Ewing said. “I was fouled on the way in and on the way up.”

O’Neal finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Magic ended a three-game losing streak. Ewing had 21 points and 12 rebounds.

In their other meeting, on Nov. 21 at New York, O’Neal had 18 points and 17 rebounds in a 92-77 loss to the Knicks. Ewing had 15 points and nine rebounds.

This time, the Magic trailed, 91-81, with six minutes to play, but O’Neal’s dunk started a 14-3 run to end the game.

O’Neal made a turnaround jumper over Ewing to cut New York’s lead to 91-90.

Orlando’s Dennis Scott later made a three-pointer with 43 seconds left for the final points. He scored 29, and his winning basket gave the Magic its first lead since the middle of the second quarter.

Scott scored 15 points in the third quarter. He did most of his scoring with O’Neal on the bench because of foul trouble.

Boston 102, New Jersey 88-- Xavier McDaniel scored 24 points at Boston as the Celtics won their fourth in a row.

The Nets, missing top scorer Drazen Petrovic because of a sprained right ankle, shot only 37% and scored 41 points in the second half. Starting guards Kenny Anderson and Rumeal Robinson were a combined six for 26. Anderson was one for 10.

Robert Parish and Kevin McHale reached milestones.

Parish had 11 rebounds for Boston to become the ninth player in NBA history to pass 13,000. He has 13,003 rebounds.

McHale’s six points moved him past Bob Cousy into third place on the Boston career scoring list with 16,959. The leader is John Havlicek with 26,395, followed by Larry Bird with 21,791. Cousy had 16,955.

Denver 115, Houston 90--The Nuggets ended a franchise-record 14-game losing streak by beating the Rockets at Denver.

Reggie Williams and Chris Jackson scored 19 points apiece as Denver won for the first time since Dec. 4.

Houston, which has lost seven in a row, was led by Hakeem Olajuwon’s 18 points.

Philadelphia 119, Washington 117--Ron Anderson made a follow shot at the buzzer as the 76ers defeated the Bullets after blowing a 16-point lead at Landover, Md.

Anderson’s game-winner came off a miss by Jeff Hornacek, who tossed up an off-balance jumper from the left side after taking the inbounds pass from under the basket with 1.6 seconds left.

Rookie Clarence Weatherspoon scored a season-high 24 points on nine-of-11 shooting and Armon Gilliam also had 24 for the 76ers, who have won two in a row since their 56-point loss to Sacramento last Saturday.

The Bullets were led by Pervis Ellison with 28 points and 14 rebounds, Tom Gugliotta with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Michael Adams with 17 points and 11 assists.

Seattle 98, Minnesota 93--Derrick McKey’s three-point play with 13 seconds to play lifted the SuperSonics at Minneapolis.

With the score tied, 93-93, McKey drove past Christian Laettner, scored on a running one-hander, got fouled and made the free throw. After a missed three-pointer by Minnesota’s Lance Blanks, Sean Kemp ended the Seattle scoring with a dunk.

Ricky Pierce scored 20 points and McKey 17 for the SuperSonics, who have won four consecutive games and nine of their last 10. At 21-8, Seattle is off to its best start in 10 years.

Atlanta 101, Detroit 92-- Duane Ferrell matched his career-high with 27 points as the Hawks ended the Pistons’ nine-game home winning streak.

The Pistons shot only 44%, but Dennis Rodman had 26 rebounds.