NBA Roundup : Knicks Beat Bullets for Fourth Straight Win and Take Lead

It took an off-game to spark the New York Knicks to their best week in more than a year.

The off-game was a 112-102 loss to the New Jersey Nets on Nov. 5.

“We’ve been a different team after that,” Mark Jackson said. “We’ve developed into perfectionists. We’re not happy with just being ordinary. We realize that in order to be the best, you have to strive to be the best every day.”

Jackson and Patrick Ewing scored 21 points each Saturday night at home and led New York past Washington, 111-101, for the Knicks’ fourth straight victory. It put New York into first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Knicks, who lost their first 2 games, are on their longest winning streak since March 1987. They had 3 3-game winning streaks last season.

New York never trailed and opened its largest lead, 111-94, with 1:24 remaining.

The Knicks made 63% of their shots in the first half and built a 62-49 lead.

Golden State 107, Portland 100--Chris Mullin scored a career-high 42 points as the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers.

Mullin, whose previous high was 38 points, made all 14 of his free-throw attempts in the game at Oakland. He has made his first 37 free throws this season and has led the Warriors in scoring in all 5 of their games.

Mullin made 14 of 25 shots and had 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Denver 141, Seattle 129--Fat Lever scored 34 points as the Nuggets posted their seventh straight home victory over the SuperSonics.

Seattle, which has lost 3 in a row after opening the season with 3 victories, has not won in Denver since Nov. 30, 1985.

The SuperSonics had only 6 field goals in the first quarter, shooting just 23% as they fell behind, 37-25.

Cleveland 121, Indiana 96--Larry Nance, Ron Harper and Brad Daugherty each scored 14 points in the first half, and the Cavaliers made 17 of their first 20 shots to beat the winless Pacers.

Cleveland (4-0) matched its best start since 1976-77, when the Cavaliers opened with 8 straight victories. Dating to the end of last season, the Cavaliers have won 8 games in a row and 10 straight at home.

They also went 8-0 during the preseason, and they have outscored their first 4 opponents by an average of 22 points.

Daugherty led Cleveland with 22 points. Anthony Frederick scored 19 points, his first in the NBA, to lead Indiana (0-5).

Atlanta 132, Charlotte 111--Reggie Theus scored 27 points, and Moses Malone added 20 as the Hawks outscored the Hornets, 40-25, in the fourth quarter at Atlanta.

Charlotte, which has lost 4 of its first 5 games, pulled within 96-93 with 10:31 left on a Kelly Tripucka 3-pointer. The Hawks, who snapped a 2-game losing streak, outscored the Hornets, 36-18, the rest of the way.

New Jersey 97, Chicago 91--Mike McGee scored 18 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final minutes, to lead the Nets to the win at home.

McGee made his first 3-pointer with 4:55 to play, snapping an 81-81 tie. Chicago (3-3) battled back to tie the game at 88-88 on a layup by Bill Cartwright.

The Nets took the lead for good at 2:22 on another 3-pointer by McGee.

Michael Jordan led all scorers with 42 points.

Utah 105, San Antonio 96--Karl Malone scored 35 points and had a career-high 22 rebounds as the Jazz beat the Spurs at San Antonio.

Malone scored 22 points in the first half as the Jazz took a 56-49 lead.

San Antonio was just 22 of 36 from the foul line, and the Spurs were called for illegal defenses 6 times. The Spurs led, 85-83, with 7:37 left, but the Jazz went on a 9-1 run.

Mark Eaton scored 6 of his 14 points down the stretch. He had 8 blocked shots in the game. Thurl Bailey scored 22 points for Utah.

Johnny Dawkins scored 30 points for San Antonio, which opened the second half with a 12-1 run.

Milwaukee 108, Boston 100--Terry Cummings scored 27 points, and the Bucks used a fourth-quarter surge to hand the Celtics their fourth straight defeat.

The Bucks led by 1 point with 8:38 left, then went on a 14-4 run behind 5 points by Larry Krystkowiak to take a 96-86 lead with 5:24 left in the game at Milwaukee.

Paul Pressey added 25 points and Krystkowiak 15 for the Bucks, who have won 3 of their first 4 games.

The Celtics, off to their worst start since 1978-79 with a 1-4 record, got 23 points from center Robert Parish.

Larry Bird, bothered by tendinitis in an Achilles’ tendon, played sparingly in the second half when he had only 2 points. Bird finished with 12 points. Kevin McHale added 15 for Boston.

Dallas 111, Sacramento 71--Derek Harper scored 9 points as the Mavericks opened the game with a 21-7 spurt and went on to rout the Kings at Dallas.

Mark Aguirre scored 22 points, and former King Terry Tyler came off the bench to add 16 for the Mavericks.

Ed Pinckney led the Kings with 15 points.