NBA ROUNDUP : A New Lowlight for Mavericks

No mark seems beyond the reach of the Dallas Mavericks this season.

As long as it’s a low mark.

The team set a club record at Dallas on Wednesday night by losing its 16th consecutive game, a 124-96 defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Dallas dropped 15 in a row twice this season and once in 1980-81, the franchise’s first season. The Mavericks are 4-54 and on pace for the NBA’s worst record, now held by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, who finished 9-73. The NBA record for consecutive losses is 24, by Cleveland, spread over two seasons. The 76ers lost 20 in a row in 1972-73.

Terry Porter led Portland with 24 points.

The Trail Blazers have won 10 in a row against the Mavericks.

There was one highlight for Dallas. Randy White had a career-high 31 points.

Boston 104, Philadelphia 100--Reggie Lewis made four free throws in the final 26 seconds at Philadelphia to give the Celtics their fourth consecutive victory and spoil Fred Carter’s first home game as the 76ers’ coach.

Carter took over after the weekend firing of Doug Moe and won at Minnesota.

But the loss to Boston was Philadelphia’s ninth in its last 11 games.

“I think our team is out of shape,” said Carter. “We were in a passing game before and now I want to put in a regular offense and it takes time to adjust.”

Xavier McDaniel led the Celtics with 23 points. Jeff Hornacek had 24 for Philadelphia.

Lewis, who scored 22, made his final two free throws after Robert Parish blocked Armon Gilliam’s attempt to tie the game with 15 seconds left.

“It looked like the ball was on its way down,” Gilliam said. “Robert blocked it off the rim.”

Parish insisted it wasn’t goaltending.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Parish said. “Did they call it? It wasn’t goaltending.”

Phoenix 111, Golden State 100--Dan Majerle scored nine of his 28 points during the fourth quarter at Phoenix to help the Suns win their fifth in a row.

Charles Barkley had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix, and Cedric Ceballos added 20 points.

The Warriors, who had only nine players healthy for the game, lost their third in a row.

Latrell Sprewell led Golden State with 22 points and 10 assists.

Denver 126, Washington 112--The Nuggets scored 41 points in the third quarter at Landover, Md., en route to their fifth victory in 31 road games.

Washington has dropped four in a row and 11 of its last 12.

Tom Gugliotta led the Bullets with a game-high 26 points along with 10 rebounds.

LaPhonso Ellis and Dikembe Mutombo led a balanced Denver scoring attack with 20 points apiece. Mutombo added 17 rebounds.

Orlando 119, Indiana 106--Tom Tolbert scored 10 fourth-quarter points at Orlando, seven during a 12-1 spurt that enabled the Magic to pull away.

Shaquille O’Neal led Orlando with 26 points and 11 rebounds and Tolbert finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

“My main contribution to the team isn’t going to be scoring, it’s rebounding,” Tolbert said. “If my rebounding gets going, my shooting tends to come around. It’s a bonus.”

Indiana lost for the eighth consecutive time on the road despite a 32-point performance from Reggie Miller. The Pacers haven’t won on the road since beating the 76ers in Philadelphia on Jan. 27.

The Magic took 52 free throws, twice as many as Indiana, and outscored the Pacers, 39-20, at the line.

Orlando also helped itself by committing a season-low nine turnovers.