Mills Hitting on All Cylinders

Terry Mills has always been a streaky shooter, but he’s never had a run like this.

Mills was six for six on three-point shots Friday night in the Detroit Pistons’s 93-81 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Mills has now made 12 three-point shots in a row--one shy of the NBA record set by Brent Price last season (Jan. 15-19) when he was with the Washington Bullets.

“My confidence is at an all-time high,” Mills said. “I had a four-point play early in the game, and that’s when I knew it might be another one of those nights.”

Mills finished with 23 points, but Piston coach Doug Collins was just as excited with his career-high nine assists. “Six threes are great, but I loved the nine assists,” he said.

Mills made his sixth three-point shot with 2:20 to play, and after a jump shot by Cleveland’s Terrell Brandon, Joe Dumars made a three-point shot to make it 89-79 and clinch the Pistons’ 14th victory in 17 games.

As a team, the Pistons made 10 of 14 three-point shots.

Knicks 103, Heat 85--The Knicks, eager to avenge a blowout loss at home against the Heat earlier this week, snapped the Heat’s franchise-record nine-game winning streak with this victory at Miami.

The Knicks’ Patrick Ewing won the battle of premier centers in the rematch, scoring 26 points to go with seven rebounds. Alonzo Mourning, who played only two minutes in the fourth quarter because of foul trouble and was disqualified with 4:05 left, had 10 points and 16 rebounds.

Tim Hardaway had 28 points and nine assists for Miami, which won at New York, 99-75, on Tuesday.

The Knicks’ Larry Johnson was ejected for a punching foul with 7:37 remaining. He scored 13 points. John Starks had 21 for the Knicks.

Indiana 86, Golden State 71--The Warriors missed all 15 of their three-point shots in losing to the Pacers at San Jose.

The Warriors’ three-point futility matched an NBA record. Houston also missed all 15 of its shots from beyond the arc on March 30, 1991, at Orlando.

The Pacers held the Warriors to only 33.8% shooting from the field to win its fifth in a row.

Portland 97, Charlotte 93--Arvydas Sabonis scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the second half to help the Trail Blazers win at Portland.

Sabonis, who had 10 rebounds, scored eight points in the fourth quarter as the Blazers built a seven-point lead with 3:16 remaining and then held on for the win.

Vlade Divac led the Hornets with a season-high 29 points--four shy of his career high.

Utah 106, Minnesota 95--Karl Malone scored 34 points, Jeff Hornacek had 23 and the Utah Jazz extended their winning streak to 13 games by coming back in the second half to beat the Timberwolves at Salt Lake City.

Tom Gugliotta scored 28 points and Stephon Marbury and Sam Mitchell had 15 each for the Timberwolves, who were outscored, 25-12, in the third quarter and, 35-17, in the fourth.

Vancouver 105, San Antonio 89--The Spurs, still without David Robinson, lost to the Grizzlies for the second time this season. And it was only the Grizzlies’ third win of the season and first on the road.

Bryant Reeves, returning from a knee injury, scored 29 points to lead Vancouver.

Robinson has been out all season with back pain. The Spurs announced Robinson likely will be re-examined early next week at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Inglewood, and that he possibly could play again at Phoenix on Tuesday or against the Clippers at the Sports Arena on Thursday.

Phoenix 101, Sacramento 95--The Suns won on the road for the first time this season. A 17-2 run in the third and fourth quarters decided it. Danny Manning scored eight of his 19 points at the start of the fourth quarter.

New Jersey 110, Celtics 108--Kerry Kittles scored a season-high 30 points and Shawn Bradley blocked two shots in the final 36 seconds of overtime to lead the Nets at Boston.

The victory gave the Nets’ John Calipari, former University of Massachusetts coach, a successful return to the state.

The game was delayed 19 minutes because a transformer went out in the City of Lexington, causing power outages throughout Boston and knocking out television lights at the FleetCenter.