NBA Roundup : There’s No Place Like Home for Bird, Celtics

Larry Bird scored 42 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Celtics to a 112-108 victory Friday night over the Seattle SuperSonics in Boston.

The Celtics won their 21st consecutive game at the Boston Garden. The SuperSonics have lost five of their last six games.

Bird made 15 of 28 shots from the floor--including 2 three-pointers--and converted all 10 of his free throws. He also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.

“There were a lot of opportunities to shoot the basketball, so I got a lot of attempts,” Bird said. “If you get a lot of attempts at home, you should get a lot of points.”

Dennis Johnson and Robert Parish both scored 20 points for Boston. Dale Ellis led Seattle with 31 points, Tom Chambers contributed 30 and Xavier McDaniel had 18.

Atlanta 114, Milwaukee 97--Dominique Wilkins scored 41 points and grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds as the Hawks beat the Bucks in Atlanta to move into a virtual tie for first place in the Central Division with the Detroit Pistons.

Atlanta, which entered the game a half-game behind Detroit, has a 45-22 record and trails the Pistons by .005 percentage points. Detroit, idle Friday, has a 44-21 record. Milwaukee (42-27) fell four games behind Detroit and Atlanta in the division race.

Randy Wittman scored 19 points for Atlanta, and Doc Rivers had 17 points and 11 assists.

Ricky Pierce and John Lucas paced Milwaukee with 17 points each, and Craig Hodges had 16.

Philadelphia 116, Denver 106--Charles Barkley scored 26 points and tied a career-high with 25 rebounds as the 76ers beat the Nuggets in Philadelphia.

Barkley, who had 16 offensive rebounds, also had 9 assists as the 76ers won for the fifth time in their last seven games.

Alex English, who finished with 29 points, moved into 17th place on the NBA career-scoring list with 18,837 points, passing Chet Walker, who had 18,831.

David Wingate scored 26 points for the 76ers, and Roy Hinson had 22 points.

The 76ers lost All-Star guard Maurice Cheeks for the second straight game with an injured finger.

Cheeks, who dislocated the middle finger on his left hand on Wednesday night, tore a tendon in the little finger on his right hand Friday night and left the game at 8:10 of the first quarter. Cheeks will be re-examined today and could miss two to three weeks.

Cleveland 106, New Jersey 105--John Bagley hit a jumper from the top of the key with three seconds to play as the Cavaliers beat the Nets at Richfield, Ohio.

The Nets, who lost to Cleveland for the second time this week, took a 105-104 lead with 10 seconds left when Buck Williams scored after rebounding Dwayne Washington’s missed layup.

After a Cleveland timeout, Bagley took the inbounds pass near midcourt, passed the ball inside to Mel Turpin, who passed it back to Bagley at the top of the circle, where he took the game-winning shot.

New Jersey called a timeout with two seconds left, but Orlando Woolridge stepped on the out-of-bounds line on the ensuing inbounds pass.

The Cavaliers, who won for only the third time in their last 11 games, were led by Ron Harper’s 28 points. Phil Hubbard had 20.

Woolridge scored 27 and Buck Williams had 23 for the Nets.

Portland 134, Phoenix 105--Clyde Drexler scored 13 of his game-high 32 points in the third quarter as the Trail Blazers beat the Suns at Portland, Ore., and clinched a playoff berth.

Portland guard Jim Paxson scored 16 points to become the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer with 9,734 points.

Phoenix was led by Larry Nance’s 24 points, and Bernard Thompson added 16.

Drexler, who didn’t play in the final quarter, also had 11 assists.