NBA ROUNDUP : ‘Aching’ Ewing Does It All to Pace Knicks

Patrick Ewing woke up Thursday with aching ribs and serious thoughts of taking a day off, but such a luxury was not possible for the New York Knicks’ center because of a knee injury suffered by teammate Charles Oakley.

Ewing apparently wasn’t too disabled. He scored 29 points and had 16 rebounds as the Knicks held off the New Jersey Nets, 106-104, to win their eighth consecutive game.

“This morning I really wasn’t sure I would be able to play,” said Ewing, who suffered bruised ribs against the Miami Heat on Tuesday. “But when I heard (Oakley) was hurt, I knew I had to.

Oakley sprained a ligament in his right knee during practice in Miami on Wednesday and will miss one to two weeks, the club said.

Ewing played 40 minutes and made 11 of 19 shots from the field, seven of nine free throws and blocked four shots.

The Nets battled back from a 16-point third-quarter deficit and got 14 fourth-quarter points from Sam Bowie to trail, 102-99, with 1:18 left in the game.

The Knicks held on with a pair of free throws by Kenny Walker with 23 seconds remaining and two foul shots by Rod Strickland with five seconds left. The free throws offset a basket by Roy Hinson and Bowie’s three-point shot at the buzzer.

Dennis Hopson finished with 21 points, and Hinson added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Utah 113, Portland 109--John Stockton scored a career-high 33 points and had 15 assists to lead the Jazz at Salt Lake City.

Karl Malone added 28 points for Utah, 20 in the second half.

Terry Porter had 24 for Portland.

Charlotte 94, Cleveland 92--Benched starter Kelly Tripucka scored 14 of his season-high 25 points in the fourth quarter at Charlotte as the Hornets won for only the second time in 14 games.

Tripucka’s jump shot from the corner with 1:33 left broke an 88-88 tie and his two free throws with six seconds to play sealed the win.

Denver 132, Miami 107--Alex English scored 20 points to lead eight teammates in double figures as the Nuggets won easily at Denver.

Blair Rasmussen added 18 points and 11 rebounds as Denver shot 56.7% and won its fifth in a row.

Grant Long, Kevin Edwards and Pat Cummings had 14 points apiece for Miami.