NBA Roundup : Malone Returns and Leads Bullets Past Celtics

Moses Malone, after missing eight games with a neck injury, returned to Washington’s lineup Thursday night and scored 23 points to help the Bullets defeat the Boston Celtics, 106-103, at Landover, Md.

Another star for the Bullets was Jay Vincent, who led a 10-point run at the start of the third period that enabled the Bullets to establish an 11-point lead. Vincent, who finished with 28 points, scored 8 of the 10 points during the run, which gave Washington a 67-56 lead.

Boston went nearly four minutes without scoring.

The Celtics came no closer than five points in the second half until Danny Ainge made a three-point shot to trim the lead to 100-97 with 40 seconds left.

Manute Bol had 17 rebounds and 12 blocked shots for the Bullets.

Larry Bird scored 22 points and Kevin McHale 21 for the Celtics, who have lost five straight road games.

The Bullets’ Jeff Malone did not play because of the flu.

Atlanta 120, Dallas 112--Dominique Wilkins had 35 points and 12 rebounds as the Hawks won at Atlanta.

The victory was the fourth straight and 15th in 16 games for Atlanta, the leader in the Central Division. The defeat snapped a six-game winning streak for Midwest-leading Dallas.

Randy Wittman added 24 points for the Hawks, while Mark Aguirre led the Mavericks with 31 points.

Dallas led, 58-57, at halftime, but Atlanta started the second half with a 20-9 spurt to take a 77-67 advantage. The Hawks never trailed again and held their biggest lead, 14 points, in the fourth quarter.

Dallas Coach Dick Motta was denied his 800th NBA career victory.

Motta, the second-winningest coach in NBA history at 799-746, will get a second chance for No. 800 Saturday at Washington.

New Jersey 109, Chicago 107--Ray Williams hit a 20-foot jumper with two seconds left as the Nets won at East Rutherford, N.J., to snap a three-game losing streak.

Williams, who got all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, hit a driving layup with 2:27 left to give the Nets a 107-101 lead.

But Chicago, which got 40 points from Michael Jordan, battled back to tie on four free throws by Jordan, the second pair coming with 11 seconds remaining.

After inbounding the ball, the Nets called a timeout. Then New Jersey worked the ball upcourt to Williams, who hit his game-winning shot from the right side over Chicago guard John Paxson.

The Bulls missed a chance to tie the game when Jordan, who had just eight points in the final period, missed a 21-footer at the buzzer.

Denver 123, Seattle 113--Alex English scored 36 points, and the Nuggets held the SuperSonics to just eight points in the first eight minutes of the final quarter as the Nuggets won at Denver.

The Nuggets took the lead for good, 99-97, on a basket by English one minute into the final quarter.

Fat Lever and Darrell Walker each had 25 points for Denver. Xavier McDaniel scored 33 for the Sonics.

Sacramento 124, Phoenix 115--Reserve forward Eddie Johnson scored 10 points in the final quarter as the Kings rallied to beat the Suns at Sacramento.

Forward Otis Thorpe scored 24 points and managed a game-high 15 rebounds, while point guard Reggie Theus and Johnson each added 23 points for the Kings.

Rookie forward Johnny Rogers scored 14 points, all from the outside, and grabbed 6 rebounds.

Houston 119, Portland 104--Robert Reid scored 21 of his season-high 30 points in the third period as the Rockets won at Portland.

Houston’s Ralph Sampson dressed for the game but did not play. It was his first appearance since injuring his left knee Feb. 5. He is expected back in early April.