NBA ROUNDUP : Celtics Surprise the Magic

Center Eric Montross of the Boston Celtics knew what he had to do.

Shaquille O’Neal “scored an awfully lot of points in the first half,” Montross said of the league’s top scorer. “I tried not to let him get the easy baskets in the second half.”

That, Montross did.

O’Neal had 28 points in the first two periods, but only 10 in the second half as the Celtics held off Orlando down the stretch for their first victory over the Magic this season, 119-117, Thursday night at Hartford, Conn.

“I had a good first half, but the second half I don’t know what happened,” O’Neal said.

Houston 110, Detroit 99-- Hakeem Olajuwon had 36 points and 12 rebounds and Clyde Drexler added 25 points in his first home victory in a Rocket uniform.

It was the first victory at the Summit for Drexler since he was traded to his hometown team last week by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Denver 105, Philadelphia 75--Reggie Williams scored 20 points and Dale Ellis added 15 to lead the Nuggets to their second consecutive blowout victory under new Coach Bernie Bickerstaff at Denver.

New York 103, Sacramento 90-- Patrick Ewing had a season-high 38 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks extended the Kings’ losing streak to a season-high three games.

Atlanta 110, Dallas 92--Mookie Blaylock had a season-high six three-pointers and scored 26 points as the Hawks beat the Mavericks at Atlanta.

Blaylock is two three-pointers short of the Hawks’ season record of 120, set by Dominique Wilkens in 1993. He also had eight assists, getting the 3,000th assist of his career in the third quarter.

Hawk Coach Lenny Wilkens, reached another milestone as he tied former Golden State Warrior coach Don Nelson for the NBA record for total games (2,737) as a player or coach.

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Notes

The Houston Rockets sent reserve guard Scott Brooks to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Morlon Wiley and a second-round pick in this year’s draft.