NBA Roundup : Laimbeer Gives Pistons What’s Needed in Win

Bill Laimbeer scored a career-high 35 points and had 21 rebounds Wednesday night at Pontiac, Mich. to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 108-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Laimbeer scored 16 points in the third quarter to highlight his best performance of the season. The Pistons have been waiting all season for the former Palos Verdes High School star to play like he did last season.

In his fourth pro season Laimbeer, 6-11, played a prominent role in the Pistons’ return to the playoffs last spring after an absence of six years. He averaged 17.3 points and 12.2 rebounds and established himself as a strong man in the middle.

The Pistons obtained top rebounding forward Dan Roundfield and figured that the improving Laimbeer and Roundfield would give them strength on the boards to go with the sharpshooting of Kelly Tripucka and John Long and the playmaking of Isiah Thomas.

But Long was a holdout until well into the season, Tripucka suffered an early injury and Laimbeer did not that well. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks have been dominating the Midwest Division.

It isn’t so much that Laimbeer is playing poorly, it’s just that he is slightly below last season in shooting, rebounding and scoring. The Pistons were counting on Laimbeer to show more improvement.

In this game, Laimbeer made 14 of 22 shots and controlled the boards.

After the Pistons took a 56-51 halftime lead, Laimbeer almost broke the game open in the third quarter. His 16 points helped stretch the lead to 83-69 after three quarters.

Although the Cavaliers are only 6-23, they have played well lately. With Laimbeer getting a rest, the Cavaliers battled back. With seven minutes left in the game, they caught up at 88-88. But Thomas, Laimbeer and Tripucka found the range and the Pistons took charge again to improve their record to 17-15 and cut the Bucks’ lead to 4 1/2 games.

The Pistons won, although they shot poorly. Take away Laimbeer’s 14-for-22 performance and they were only 20-for-67 from the field for a shooting accuracy of only 30%.

“We know,” Laimbeer said, “that this is a team game and we have to pull together as a team if we are going to compete with the top teams. Maybe, we are getting closer to being a real team. All my goals are team-oriented. I only care whether we win, not how many points or rebounds I had.”

Houston 113, Denver 111--The Twin Towers did their part in this game at Denver to move the Rockets into a tie with the Nuggets for first place in the Midwest Division.

Akeem Olajuwon scored 27 points, including a 10-foot jumper with three seconds remaining that won it. Ralph Sampson had 29 points.

The high-scoring Nuggets scored only seven points in the first six minutes and fell behind by 13 points. The Nuggets rallied and led most of the final quarter before losing.

Boston 110, New Jersey 95--It was just another one of those nights for Larry Bird that his coach, K.C. Jones calls normal. In this game at East Rutherford, N.J., Bird scored 23 points, had 10 assists and pulled down 7 rebounds.

About the only member of the injury-plagued Nets to play well was improving center Mike Gminski. Gminski had 23 points and 18 rebounds.

The Nets stayed close for a quarter, trailing by only two points. But, in the second quarter, the Celtics blew the Nets out, 33-16. Cedric Maxwell and Kevin McHale each had eight points in the period. Twice in the third period the Nets pulled to within eight points, but never got any closer and the Celtics improved the best record in the league to 27-6.

Phoenix 115, Kansas City 107--Backup guards Rod Foster and Jay Humphries provided the impetus to a 35-point fourth quarter at Kansas City that swept the Suns to victory.

The Suns trailed, 86-80, going into the last quarter. But Foster and Humphries came off the bench to score two baskets each in a 15-2 spurt that gave the Suns a seven-point lead.

During the spurt Mark Olberding, who was leading the Kings with 17 points, was assessed two technicals and ejected. The Kings never recovered from that 2 1/2-minute burst.

Foster and Humphreys each finished with 15 points. Foster had 11 points and Humphries nine in the last 12 minutes. The victory enabled the Suns to move within 4 1/2 games of the Lakers in the Pacific Division.

Atlanta 121, Chicago 107--Dominique Wilkins had 35 points and seven rebounds at Atlanta to give the Hawks their second win in a row over the Bulls. The Hawks ended the Bulls’ three-game winning streak with a 104-101 win at Chicago Saturday.

Michael Jordan and Orlando Woolridge each had 25 points for the Bulls, but Jordan spent most of the fourth quarter on the bench after scoring all his points in the first three quarters. Jordan was 10 of 14 from the field, had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Woolridge was 10-for-21, but had only four rebounds.

Jordan put on a show early. He had two spectacular dunks in the opening minutes.

“I’ve been around the league one time now,” Jordan said, “and I think I learned a lot. I think I can do better the second time around.

Philadelphia 118, Seattle 109--Moses Malone scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half at Seattle and led a 17-5 surge in the final four minutes that gave the 76ers their sixth victory in a row.

The Sonics led, 104-101, but the 76ers scored nine points in a row, four of them by Malone.

Julius Erving had 22 points for the 76ers and Charles Barkley had 18, eight in the last quarter.

Tom Chambers had 26 for the Sonics, who have lost four in a row.