NBA Roundup : Spirited Cavaliers Beat Hawks, 107-106

The young Cleveland Cavaliers like to believe that they will develop into a team similar to the powerful Atlanta Hawks. To do that, they can’t lay down against top teams such as Atlanta.

“You don’t keep kicking a dog that’s down,” guard Mark Price, one of five Cleveland rookies, said after the Cavaliers edged the Hawks, 107-106, Monday night at Richfield, Ohio, on a Phil Hubbard foul shot with three seconds remaining.

“I think the Hawks might have had an idea that we would be their stepping dog. It was good for us to come out, be aggressive and not back down,” said Price, who came off the bench to score 10 points and deal out nine assists.

Atlanta had easily routed Cleveland in their previous meetings by scores of 108-89 and 122-98. It looked like more of the same Monday when the Hawks, who have the Eastern Conference’s best record at 20-7, led, 73-57, with 8:52 left in the third quarter.

Cleveland charged back, however, as guard Ron Harper scored 16 of his 21 points after Atlanta took its big lead.

“We needed a lift and Mark Price got us going,” Cleveland Coach Lenny Wilkens said. “Our big guys got physical and our defense became much more aggressive. We started to give them only one shot. We got our fast break going and we are a different team when we move,” he said.

Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins, who led all scorers with 25 points, made a three-point shot from 26 feet to tie the game at 106 with 15 seconds remaining. Hubbard then got the offensive rebound off a missed shot by teammate Harper and was fouled by Kevin Willis. After missing the first foul shot, Hubbard made the second.

Wilkins’ 32-foot shot at the buzzer fell short.

Brad Daugherty scored 19 points for the Cavaliers and Hubbard chipped in with 18, while Atlanta’s Cliff Levingston had 17 points and Glenn (Doc) Rivers added 15.

Boston 119, Sacramento 102--Larry Bird scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Celtics won their third straight game in Sacramento.

Leading, 64-59, at the half, the Celtics opened the third quarter with a 12-4 run, including two baskets by Kevin McHale, to go ahead by 13, 76-63.

In addition to Bird, Boston had three other players score 20 or more points. Robert Parish scored 24, Dennis Johnson had 22 and McHale added 20. Reserve center Joe Kleine led Sacramento scoring with a season-high 17 points.

Parish also grabbed 11 rebounds, while Kleine had 7 for the Kings.

Washington 125, Golden State 105--Moses Malone scored 35 points and Jeff Malone added 23 as the Bullets handed the Warriors their third straight loss at Landover, Md.

Terry Teagle led the Warriors with 28 points, and Eric Floyd added 19.

New Jersey 122, Milwaukee 117-- Mike Gminski scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Nets to their fourth straight home win at East Rutherford, N.J.

The win marked the second time the Nets have won two games in a row this season and the victory came against a team that had won seven of its last 10.

Orlando Woolridge, who finished with 24 points, had 11 straight points for New Jersey during a run that gave the Nets an 85-78 edge.

Tony Brown added 21 points for New Jersey, while Sidney Moncrief and Ricky Pierce each had 21 for Milwaukee. Paul Pressey added 20 for the Bucks.

Utah 109, San Antonio 101--Bobby Hansen scored 18 points as the Jazz beat the Spurs at Salt Lake City.

Rookie Del Curry finished with a career-high 17 for Utah and Bailey added 16.