Hawks Prove Their Worth to the Pacers

Atlanta figures to battle Indiana for the Central Division title, and the Hawks struck the first blow Tuesday night with an 85-79 victory over the Pacers at Indianapolis.

“Indiana is one of the teams in the league that has been playing great,” said Atlanta’s Dikembe Mutombo, who had 10 points and a season-high 20 rebounds. “This is a team we have to beat to win a championship and we wanted to send them a message that they have to battle to beat us.”

There were 17 ties and 14 lead changes, and neither team led by more than seven points. Steve Smith’s two free throws with 7.9 seconds left gave Atlanta an 83-79 lead and the Hawks held on from there.

The victory was Atlanta’s fourth straight and ended Indiana’s four-game winning streak.

Seattle 87, Vancouver 85--Vin Baker scored 31 points, including a tip-in with a half second left at Seattle.

Baker had two baskets in the last 2:14 as the SuperSonics overcame an 83-77 deficit and handed the Grizzlies their 13th straight loss.

The Sonics were without Gary Payton the last 15:11 because he was ejected for his second technical foul with 3:49 left in the third quarter.

Houston 101, Portland 93--Scottie Pippen wanted more offense and he got it at a good time with 18 points and nine assists as the Rockets held off the Trail Blazers’ late charge at Houston.

Hakeem Olajuwon had 21 points and Charles Barkley added 15 points for the Rockets, who almost blew a 19-point third-quarter lead.

Pippen, who complained he has not been a part of the offense, got his wishes answered in the first quarter when he scored six points and took four shots, one less than he had the entire game Sunday against Phoenix.

Phoenix 110, Milwaukee 92--The Suns got 20 points from Cliff Robinson and 19 from Tom Gugliotta in a rout of the trade-depleted Bucks at Milwaukee.

The Bucks lost their fourth straight game since trading away their best offensive player (Terrell Brandon) and best defender (Tyrone Hill) last week for Sam Cassell, who has bone chips in his right ankle and won’t play for another week.

Toronto 100, New Jersey 85--Rookie Vince Carter had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Raptors at Toronto in Net interim Coach Don Casey’s first game since replacing John Calipari.

New Jersey shot only 37% from the field, were outrebounded, 55-41, and trailed by 27 points entering the fourth quarter.

Miami 94, Washington 85--Tim Hardaway had 24 points, including a fallaway jumper with 53.8 seconds left, and added nine assists at Miami as the Heat won their fifth in a row.

San Antonio 121, Sacramento 109--Tim Duncan had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Avery Johnson had 17 points and a season-high 15 assists at Sacramento as the Spurs won their eighth in a row. It was only the Spurs fourth game with 100 or more points this season.

Cleveland 86, Detroit 82--Andrew DeClercq grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in his home debut and Brevin Knight scored a season-high 19 points at Cleveland.