Terry Is High-Flying Hawk Against the Kings

Hard work is beginning to pay off for Jason Terry.

Terry scored a career-high 38 points, including a three-point basket with 1:39 left to put Atlanta ahead to stay, and the Hawks held off the visiting Sacramento Kings, 107-99, Tuesday night.

Terry shot 12 of 19 from the field and 12 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also made two of four three-point shots, the second coming after Doug Christie had given the Kings their last lead at 96-95. Terry’s three-point basket with three seconds left on the shot clock put Atlanta ahead to stay.

“I’ve been working on my shot all season long and all summer,” said Terry, the Hawks’ second-year player out of Arizona whose previous high was 32 points in a loss to Cleveland on Saturday night.

“Obviously, Jason is just on an unbelievable roll,” said Atlanta Coach Lon Kruger, who switched Terry from point guard to shooting guard nine games ago. The 6-foot-2 Terry, averaging just more than 14 points, has averaged 23 in his last nine games.

Atlanta beat the Kings for the 10th consecutive game and 12th in a row at home as Terry scored nine of Atlanta’s final 12 points.

Jim Jackson returned to the lineup after missing eight games because of a sprained right knee and added 20 points for the Hawks, who had lost three in a row.

Chris Webber had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento, which had a four-game winning streak ended.

“You can say that you’ll have bad games throughout the year, but this is not one of those games,” Webber said. “You can’t blame it on that. They earned it. They worked hard.”

Portland 101, Golden State 93--Rasheed Wallace shook off a sprained right wrist to get 29 points and 11 rebounds as the Trail Blazers won at Oakland.

Marc Jackson had a career-high 27 points, and Antawn Jamison had 30 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which lost its third in a row.

Trail Blazer forward Shawn Kemp was ejected with 9:27 left for arguing calls and Wallace nearly followed him 41 seconds later.

Kemp was called for a flagrant foul against Jamison, and he flung the ball to the other end of the court before arguing with referee Steve Javie, who ejected him. Wallace then was called for a flagrant foul against Jackson, and Javie gave the league’s technical-foul leader his 12th of the season.

New Jersey 116, Minnesota 94--Stephon Marbury returned to the lineup and scored 27 points at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Nets snapped the Timberwolves’ four-game winning streak.

Marbury had missed four games because of a sprained ankle.

Kevin Garnett had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota.

Cleveland 92, Dallas 87--Zydrunas Ilgauskas took over in the final minutes, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter and blocking Steve Nash’s late layup at Cleveland as the Cavaliers won their fourth in a row.

Ilgauskas finished with had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Steve Nash had 21 points for Dallas, which was outrebounded, 59-29.

“They’re a very good team,” Dallas interim Coach Del Harris said. “They play good defense and they’re very organized. I think they’re for real.”

Seattle 97, Orlando 92--Gary Payton scored 21 points, including two key baskets in the final three minutes, to help the SuperSonics to victory at Seattle.

Payton went around Tracy McGrady and scored on a layup with 2:38 remaining to give the SuperSonics a 90-87 lead. He later sank a 10-footer with 58.9 seconds to go to put Seattle ahead, 94-87.

Darrell Armstrong had 25 points for the Magic.

Toronto 104, Indiana 90--Vince Carter scored 33 points, including five three-pointers, and Charles Oakley had a season-high 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Raptors’ victory at Toronto.

Indiana’s Jalen Rose scored 22 points.

Around the League

Philadelphia 76er point guard Eric Snow had surgery in Houston to repair his broken right ankle. Snow is expected to miss six to eight weeks. . . . The Charlotte Hornets’ Derrick Coleman returned to practice Monday for the first time since Coach Paul Silas placed him on the injured list because the forward was out of shape and overweight. Silas expects him to return to the lineup within the next two weeks. . . . Cleveland Cavalier backup point guard Bimbo Coles had knee surgery and will be sidelined for at least four weeks. The Cavaliers also put point guard Brevin Knight (sore knee) on the injured list for the second time this season. . . . The Golden State Warriors activated center Adonal Foyle (finger). The Warriors also placed forward Chris Mills (inflamed ankle) on the injured list.