NBA ROUNDUP : O’Neal Returns in a Big Way in Victory

So much for Shaquille O’Neal gradually working his way back for the Orlando Magic.

The defending NBA scoring champion returned from a broken thumb that sidelined him the first six weeks of the season Friday night, scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to pace a 111-99 victory over Utah at Orlando.

His performance overshadowed a 24-point, 21-rebound night for Utah’s Karl Malone.

O’Neal played 24 minutes as a backup to Jon Koncak, who started the 22 games the All-Star center missed.

Dennis Scott scored 26 points, Nick Anderson had 17 and Penny Hardaway, who helped Orlando to a 17-5 record without O’Neal, contributed 16 points and 11 assists for the Magic.

The All-Star center missed his first two shots from the field, both baseline jumpers, before giving the sellout Orlando crowd of 17,248 a taste of vintage O’Neal.

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Sacramento 114, Houston 110--Bouncing back from a season-low performance in his last game, Mitch Richmond scored 24 of his 47 points in a fourth-quarter comeback in the Kings’ victory at Houston.

Richmond scored only eight points Tuesday but made up for it against Houston, helping the Kings erase a 10-point deficit at the start of the final quarter.

Trailing, 83-73, the Kings took a 98-97 lead with 5:29 left during a run of 13 consecutive points by Richmond. It was Sacramento’s first lead since the second quarter.

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Indiana 112, Milwaukee 95--Rik Smits had 12 first-quarter points in the Pacers’ most productive period of the season in a rout at Indianapolis.

The Pacers led, 38-18, after the first quarter, shooting 65%, and weren’t seriously challenged in winning a fourth consecutive game.

Reggie Miller had five points in the spurt, including three following technical fouls called against the Bucks for protesting officials’ calls.

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Detroit 105, New Jersey 98--Grant Hill’s second triple-double of the season led the Pistons to victory over the Nets at Detroit.

Hill finished with 19 points, a career-high 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

Detroit scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to make it 89-81 and eventually led by as many as 10.

The Nets cut the lead to 93-89 with 6:25 to play, but the Pistons scored the next six points to clinch the game.

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Boston 122, Toronto 103--Dino Radja scored a season-high 31 points and had 14 rebounds at Boston as the Celtics surpassed the .500 mark for the first time this season.

The Celtics, who won their third in a row, moved their record to 11-10. Rick Fox added 24 for Boston, and rookie Eric Williams had 17. Todd Day, Eric Montross and Dana Barros each added 13 for Boston.

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Cleveland 100, Minnesota 88--Chris Mills equalled a career high with 26 points and Terrell Brandon added 19 as the Cavaliers cruised at Minneapolis.

The pair combined to make 18 of 30 shots. Cleveland never trailed en route to its 10th victory in 14 games since starting the season 0-7.

Christian Laettner led Minnesota with 22 points and Isaiah Rider added 21.

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Seattle 108, Golden State 101--Shawn Kemp had a season-high 32 points and pulled down 16 rebounds and Gary Payton scored 28 for the SuperSonics at Seattle.

Seattle, winning for the ninth time in 11 games, missed 16 of its first 17 three-point attempts, but made all of its last five from long range in the final quarter.