NBA ROUNDUP : Stockton’s Buzzer-Beater Downs Cavaliers

John Stockton caught an inbounds pass and swished a straightaway three-point shot at the buzzer Thursday night, lifting the Utah Jazz past the Cavaliers, 89-87, at Cleveland.

The Jazz ended Cleveland’s four-game winning streak and improved to 3-2 on its six-game road trip that ends Saturday at Chicago.

Stockton’s three-point shot made up for some poor foul shooting that allowed the Cavaliers to overcome a six-point deficit in the final 24 seconds.

Utah, which won a road game against Cleveland for the first time since 1991, got 21 points from Karl Malone and 15 from Stockton.

Mills and Bobby Phills scored 24 apiece for Cleveland.

Charlotte 107, Boston 97--Glen Rice scored 27 of his 31 points in the second half at Charlotte.

The Hornets scored the first 16 points of the fourth quarter to go ahead, 84-77. After Boston cut it to 91-87 on a three-point play by Todd Day, Rice scored two consecutive baskets and Kendall Gill sealed the victory with a left-handed dunk for a 99-90 lead with 1:01 to go.

Larry Johnson scored 24 points for the Hornets, while Dell Curry added 13. Radja led the Celtics with 22 points.

Dana Barros of Boston tied the NBA record of 79 consecutive games with at least one three-point basket.

Houston 91, Portland 86--Hakeem Olajuwon had 30 points and 15 rebounds at Houston and the Rockets thrived at the free throw line in a victory over the NBA’s worst free throw shooting team.

The difference came at the free-throw line, where Houston made 22 of 27. The Blazers, who average a league-low 62.8% from the line, converted only 16 of 31.

Strickland finished with 30 points to lead Portland. Chris Dudley was the only other Blazer in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Sam Cassell came off the bench to score 20 points. He was six for six from the free-throw line.

San Antonio 114, Denver 96--David Robinson scored 25 points and Vinny Del Negro 21 at San Antonio to pace the Spurs to their fourth consecutive victory.

Dale Ellis led Denver with 21 points. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf added 18.

San Antonio led, 30-16, at the end of the first quarter, but Denver closed within a point, 44-43, near halftime.

With Robinson and Del Negro leading the way, the Spurs built a 59-48 lead at halftime and coasted to the victory in the second half.

The Spurs had a season-high 51 rebounds, with Robinson getting 15 and Chuck Person adding a season-high 13.

Seattle 92, Vancouver 68--Gary Payton scored 22 points and Shawn Kemp had 15 points and 12 rebounds at Seattle.

The 68 points by the expansion Grizzlies were an all-time low for a Sonics’ opponent. The previous low was 70 points twice before. Vancouver scored only 62 points against San Antonio for its all-time low earlier this season.

Anthony Avent scored 16 points for the Grizzlies, who beat the Sonics in Vancouver, 94-93, Tuesday night.

The Grizzlies (4-22) did not have their starting center, 7-foot, 292-pound Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, who sat out because of back spasms. Reeves spent the game in the dressing room getting treatment.

NBA Notes

Chris Gatling of the Golden State Warriors and Don MacLean of the Nuggets were suspended for one game each and fined by the NBA for fighting. Gatling was fined $5,000 and MacLean was fined $3,500.