Abdur-Rahim’s 50 Send Hawks Soaring

Shareef Abdur-Rahim became the first NBA player this season to reach 50 points in a game.

Abdur-Rahim reached a career-high as the Atlanta Hawks overcame an 18-point deficit for a 106-99 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night at Atlanta.

The Hawks, who beat Boston, 92-85, Wednesday, won two games in a row for the first time this season. They trailed, 82-72, at the end of the third quarter, but Jason Terry helped them finish the comeback, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the final period.

“The groove I was in, I felt like something good was going to happen,” said Abdur-Rahim, who scored 10 points in the final period. “Either they were going to double me and I’d find one of my teammates, or I was going to score.”

The 50-point mark was reached nine times last season. This season’s high mark of 44 points was shared by Washington’s Michael Jordan, Orlando’s Tracy McGrady and Denver’s Nick Van Exel.

While his previous career-high game featured 16 free throws, he did the bulk of his work from the field this time. Abdur-Rahim shot 21 for 30 from the field and eight for eight from the line.

“The nice thing about it is we got that effort in a win,” said Hawk Coach Lon Kruger. “It’s a great effort. The help was there, and Shareef made up whatever play he needed to finish.”

Abdur-Rahim became the first Hawk player to score 50 points in nearly 10 years. Dominique Wilkins was the last to do it.

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Philadelphia 79, Cleveland 68--Allen Iverson shot only nine of 30 from the field but scored 27 points as the 76ers defeated the Cavaliers at Philadelphia for their seventh consecutive victory.

Dikembe Mutombo had a season-high 20 rebounds, Matt Harpring scored 17 points and Aaron McKie added 16 points for the 76ers, who have won 10 straight and 11 of their last 12 against Cleveland.

Dallas 104, Miami 94--Dirk Nowitzki had 33 points and 11 rebounds at Miami as the Mavericks extended the Heat’s losing streak to seven games.

The Mavericks spoiled the return of Miami center Alonzo Mourning, who was back after missing three games with a stomach virus. Mourning came off the bench to get 12 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes.

Toronto 91, Boston 89--Keon Clark scored a season-high 19 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter at Boston, and the Raptors won their fourth consecutive road game.

After the Celtics went ahead, 85-76, with 6:50 left, the Raptors went on a 13-0 run keyed by five points from Clark and four from Antonio Davis to take an 89-85 lead with 1:14 remaining.

San Antonio 97, Indiana 79--Tim Duncan had 30 points and a season-high 18 rebounds at Indianapolis as the Spurs recorded their seventh consecutive victory.

Both teams shot 39% from the field, but San Antonio outscored Indiana, 26-9, from the free-throw line and outrebounded the Pacers, 62-40.

Orlando 109, Charlotte 99--Tracy McGrady had 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and the Magic made 11 three-pointers at Charlotte, N.C.

Phoenix 103, Memphis 89--Tony Delk scored 17 of his season-high 23 points in the first half and the Suns shot 57% from the field at Memphis, Tenn.

Portland 97, Denver 90--Rasheed Wallace scored a season-high 30 points and Damon Stoudamire returned from a self-imposed stint on the injured list with nine assists as the Trail Blazers defeated the Nuggets at Portland, Ore.

Seattle 99, Houston 81--Gary Payton scored 24 points and Desmond Mason added 21 at Seattle as the SuperSonics defeated the Rockets, who were without injured starters Steve Francis and Kenny Thomas.