NBA Roundup : Pistons Pay Price for Laker Win

“I don’t know if it’s going to turn our season around,” Detroit’s Kelly Tripucka said Sunday after the Pistons had surprised the Lakers, 118-115, at Detroit.

How right he was. Less than 24 hours after they had beaten one of the NBA’s best teams, the Pistons lost to one of the league’s worst.

The Pacers owed their 105-99 victory at Indianapolis to the play of Wayman Tisdale. Tisdale scored 29 points, including 11 in the third quarter, and grabbed 15 rebounds as Indiana beat Detroit for the first time in 10 outings.

The Pacers led by 18 on a three-point play by Tisdale that made it 81-63 with 2:53 left in the third period.

Detroit cut it to five, 87-82, on a Vinnie Johnson layup with 8:54 remaining in the fourth. The Pacers then ran off a 9-2 spurt in the next 3 1/2 minutes to make it 96-84 on a three-point play by Vern Fleming with 5:31 to play.

The Pistons closed to within three points on an Isiah Thomas layup with 34 seconds left. But two free throws by Clint Richardson and one by Clark Kellogg secured the win for Indiana.

Fleming and Richardson finished with 18 points each for the Pacers, while Kellogg had 14. Steve Stipanovich had only eight points but grabbed 15 rebounds.

Johnson scored 27 points for Detroit, including 21 in the first half. Thomas had 23 and Tony Campbell contributed 12 for the Pistons.

Philadelphia 103, New York 93--Moses Malone scored 30 points and Charles Barkley added 24 as the 76ers upended the Knicks at Philadelphia for their 15th victory in their last 17 games.

“We just had too much for them,” Barkley said. “We had Moses. Moses set the tone and we dominated inside. We played very well as a team, and the other guys kept getting it inside to Moses and me.”

Philadelphia, taking advantage of numerous New York turnovers, jumped out to a 27-8 lead midway through the first quarter, and led 49-30 on a jump shot by Clemon Johnson with 5:33 left in the first half.

Philadelphia held a 67-57 advantage late in the third period, and scored the final seven points of the quarter to take an 84-67 edge. The Knicks never got closer than nine points after that.

Julius Erving contributed 22 points for the 76ers.

Patrick Ewing led the Knicks with 22 points. Gerald Wilkins had 15 for New York, which lost its third straight game.

Atlanta 101, Milwaukee 98--Dominique Wilkins scored 33 points and Kevin Willis added 24 as the Hawks pulled to within five games of the Bucks in the Central Division race in this game at Atlanta. Willis gave the Hawks the lead for good at 99-97 on a layup with 48 seconds left.

Atlanta got 14 points from reserve Antoine Carr while Glenn Rivers and Cliff Levingston each added 11. Willis also had a game-high 17 rebounds.

Cleveland 108, Phoenix 93--World B. Free scored 18 of his 31 points in the first half and the Cavaliers led from start to finish as they beat the Suns at Richfield, Ohio.

The Suns got 22 points from James Edwards and 18 from Larry Nance but still lost their fourth straight on the road.