NBA ROUNDUP : Rockets Streak Into All-Star Break

The NBA All-Star break could not have come at a worse time for the Houston Rockets. But it could not come at a better time for the Boston Celtics.

Carl Herrera scored a career-high 18 points to lead seven Houston players in double figures and the Rockets beat the Celtics, 119-84, Thursday night at Houston.

It was the second blowout victory in a row for the Rockets, who defeated Philadelphia, 149-111, on Tuesday night. The Celtics have lost three consecutive games.

“You want to go right back out and play again,” Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “You really hate to have any days off. The timing of these games (All-Star game) didn’t come at a good time. I wish we could keep rolling.”

The Rockets, who have won four of their last five games, took advantage of Boston’s poor second-quarter shooting for a 45-29 halftime lead. Houston shot 58% and Boston 38%. Houston set a franchise record 68.5% shooting from the field against the 76ers.

“We’ll smile for a while about this, but we’ve got to get right back to work,” Tomjanovich said. “What counts in this league is consistency. I’d like to see a lot of peaks and if there is a negative, I don’t want the valleys to be too deep.”

The Celtics, who got a team-high 21 points from Reggie Lewis, scored only eight points in the second quarter. The Celtics’ franchise-worst for a quarter is six points against New Jersey in 1990.

“That’s as bad as I’ve seen us play,” Celtic Center Robert Parish said. “That’s absolutely the worst. It doesn’t get much worse than that. If it does, I don’t want to see it.”

Hakeem Olajuwon scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds, and Otis Thorpe added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets.

Phoenix 131, Atlanta 119--Richard Dumas scored a career-high 32 points, Charles Barkley had a triple-double, and the Suns won their 18th consecutive home game. Phoenix led, 27-16, at the end of the first quarter. Tom Chambers scored 12 of his 22 points in the second quarter as the Suns took a 37-24 halftime lead.

Atlanta’s Kevin Willis, scoreless in the first half, led a minor comeback by the Hawks with 22 points, but Phoenix never lost its lead and moved within a game of tying a franchise record of 19 consecutive home victories.

Barkley got his 14th career triple-double with 25 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists. The Suns also got 21 points from Dan Majerle.

Dominique Wilkins had 27 points and Mookie Blaylock 22 for the Hawks.

Minnesota 121, Sacramento 114--Christian Laettner had 28 points and 16 rebounds, and Chuck Person and Micheal Williams made three-point baskets down the stretch to lead the Timberwolves at Minnesota.

“Each three that we shot during (the fourth quarter), I was saying, ‘No, no, no!’ But they went in,” Minnesota Coach Sidney Lowe said. “We were just trying to run some clock and still get a good shot. We tried to run the clock down too much. But the guys, I guess they decided they were going to take it down to two seconds and heave it up. They had their own game plan.”

Williams, who missed the previous two games because of a bruised heel, had 27 points and 11 assists and Person added 26 points as Minnesota used its best scoring night of the season to win for only the second time in its last eight home games.

The Timberwolves shot 56% from the field and made 40 of 46 free throws. Sacramento is 0-18 when opponents make at least half of their field goals.

Lionel Simmons scored 24 points, and Wayman Tisdale and Spud Webb had 22 each to lead the Kings.

Utah 105, Milwaukee 94--Karl Malone scored 26 points and John Stockton added 20 as the Jazz used two second-half runs to win at Milwaukee.

“We tried to go back to our bread and butter,” said Malone, who also had 11 rebounds. “Get the ball inside and punish some people.”

Stockton’s 11 assists moved him within five of becoming the fourth NBA player to reach 8,000 assists.

“If that happens, great. If not, I can live without them too,” Stockton said. “You just go out and play and you don’t have distractions like that.”

Blue Edwards, who came to the Bucks with Eric Murdock in a trade last summer that sent Jay Humphries and Larry Krystkowiak to the Jazz, led Milwaukee with 25 points. Frank Brickowski added 20 points for the Bucks, who have lost seven of their last nine games.

San Antonio 103, Philadelphia 98--Dale Ellis tied a club record with four three-point shots in the fourth quarter and finished with 24 points as the Spurs extended their home winning streak to 15 games.

“I like the ball down the stretch when we need a basket,” said Ellis, the NBA’s all-time leading three-point shooter. “I like my teammates to feel confident I can hit the big shot.”

Hersey Hawkins, who scored 33 points to lead Philadelphia, said of Ellis: “He got hot and when a guy gets hot, you have to stay with him. A couple of times, we didn’t communicate well.”

David Robinson added 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won nine of their last 10 games and 24 of 28 under Coach John Lucas.

Seattle 131, Golden State 116--Derrick McKey scored a season-high 30 points to lead the SuperSonics at Oakland.

Ricky Pierce added 25 for Seattle, which has won three consecutive games and five of its last seven.

Sarunas Marciulionis scored 26 for Golden State, which has lost four in a row.