NBA ROUNDUP : Once Again, Olajuwon Proves He’s a Fast Finisher

Hakeem Olajuwon finished with a flourish for the second consecutive game, scoring 20 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as he led the Houston Rockets to a 98-83 victory over the Utah Jazz at Houston on Saturday night.

“What can you say about Hakeem but MVP every night,” Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “He just never lets up.”

Olajuwon, who had 15 fourth-quarter points in Thursday night’s 113-107 victory over the Lakers, enabled the Rockets to end a three-game losing streak against the Jazz. Houston won for the seventh time in eight games.

“He’s playing better than anyone I can think of right now,” Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said.

“In the fourth quarter, my concentration level goes up,” Olajuwon said. “The first three quarters I’m getting a feel for the game. Tonight, I was making myself available and my teammates were reading very well and making good decisions.”

Jazz guard John Stockton got two steals and became the second player in NBA history to reach 2,000. He trails Maurice Cheeks, who had 2,310.

Atlanta 100, Miami 90--Stacey Augmon scored seven of his 25 points in the final 3:31 at Atlanta as the Hawks won for the fifth time in six games to move one-half game behind the idle New York Knicks for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

San Antonio 112, Golden State 101--David Robinson scored 29 points and Terry Cummings added 22 to lead the Spurs at Oakland. Chris Webber led the Warriors with 23 points and Latrell Sprewell had 20.

Seattle 113, Minnesota 93--Detlef Schrempf scored 23 points to lead five players in double figures at Seattle as the SuperSonics beat the Timberwolves for the 13th consecutive time.

Denver 112, Dallas 101--Dikembe Motombo scored a season-high 27 points to help the Nuggets win at Denver. The victory was the fourth in a row and sixth in seven games for the Nuggets.

The loss was the 14th in a row for Dallas. The Mavericks, 8-60, also have had losing streaks of 20 and 16 this season.

New Jersey 103, Washington 100--Armon Gilliam’s short hook shot with 16 seconds left gave the Nets their first lead of the game at Washington as they handed the Bullets their eighth loss in a row.

Chicago 90, Indiana 88--Scott Williams blocked Derrick McKey’s layup attempt at the buzzer as the Bulls withstood the Pacers’ second-half comeback at Chicago.