NBA ROUNDUP : Dumars Leads Pistons in Victory for Pride

Joe Dumars was called questionable in the pregame injury report, but there was no question he was ready to play.

Dumars scored 18 of his 40 points in the second quarter and made some key shots in the fourth at Dallas where the Detroit Pistons beat the Mavericks, 105-96, Saturday night.

Dumars sank two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter to help blunt Dallas rallies and help the Pistons to only their sixth road victory of the season.

Overall, it was Detroit’s third victory in its last five games.

“I didn’t know I was even listed (on the injury report),” said Dumars, who fell five points short of the high for his career. “We needed to win this game, and it was no time to come up short.”

The need for the victory was largely generated by pride.

The Mavericks are the only team in the NBA with a worse record than Detroit’s.

“When you’ve won only (13) games, you can never feel anybody’s a couple of rungs below you,” Dumars said. “But we did look at this as a winnable game.”

Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson scored 18 points apiece for Dallas, which lost its third consecutive game.

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San Antonio 100, Miami 96--J.R. Reid scored a season-high 22 points and Dennis Rodman had 26 rebounds at San Antonio to lead the Spurs to their 12th victory in a row.

David Robinson had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots for San Antonio, which hasn’t lost since Jan. 20. Rodman had a season-high 13 points.

Steve Smith had 24 points for the Heat and Glen Rice added 21.

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Houston 106, Phoenix 88--Vernon Maxwell scored 18 points in the first 18 minutes and finished with 25 for the Rockets at home.

Houston snapped Phoenix’s three-game winning streak and beat the Suns in the Summit for the eighth time in 10 games.

Charles Barkley, playing in his third consecutive game after missing 17 in a row because of a knee injury, had two airballs and three turnovers early in the first quarter but led the Suns with 15 points.

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Golden State 101, Boston 90--Chris Webber scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Warriors, who held the Celtics to 11 points in the final 12 minutes at Oakland.

Golden State, winning its fifth in a row, broke a four-game losing streak to Boston dating to Feb. 19, 1992.