NBA Roundup : High-Flying Hawks Grounded by Bird, Celtics, 121-114

Larry Bird scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter Friday night at Atlanta as the Boston Celtics came from behind for a 121-114 victory that ended the Hawks’ seven-game winning streak.

Bird, with considerable help off the bench from Bill Walton, had to offset a 42-point performance by Dominique Wilkins.

Ever since the days of Bill Russell, the Celtics have made it a point to teach a few lessons to up-and-coming teams.

The Hawks, who have shown tremendous improvement this season, thought they were in a position to challenge the Celtics. The Hawks had won 13 in a row at home and were going up against a team that figured to be tired. The Celtics were playing their fifth road game in seven nights.

For three quarters Wilkins had the Hawks on the wing. They entered the final 12 minutes holding a 95-89 lead.

But Walton took charge of the boards and Bird, coming off a phenomenal game at San Antonio Thursday night when he made all but the last shot he took, made the key points. His two free throws with 6:41 remaining put the Celtics ahead to stay, 104-103. He put the finishing touch on the victory when he sank a three-point basket with 1:04 left to make it 119-111.

It was a three-pointer that Bird missed against the Spurs Thursday night after he had made 12 in a row, three of them three-point bombs.

Walton, who has performed so well for the Celtics, played only 23 minutes. He scored 17 points, had 9 rebounds, 3 assists and blocked 2 shots. He made five of six shots from the field.

Utah 146, San Antonio 121--Adrian Dantley, an unhappy man since he had his altercation with Utah Coach Frank Layden last week, took out his wrath on the Spurs in this game at Salt Lake City.

Although he spent half the second half on the bench, Dantley scored a season-high 47 points to lead the Jazz to an easy victory.

Philadelphia 109, Cleveland 100--A two-game rest was just what the doctor ordered for Dr. J’s aching knees. Julius Erving scored 28 points and had 9 rebounds in this game at Philadelphia to spark the 76ers to their fourth in a row.

Moses Malone scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds.

Detroit 112, New York 89--Kelly Tripucka scored 21 points in 29 minutes at Pontiac, Mich., to lead the Pistons to and easy win over the hapless Knicks. The Knicks have lost six in a row.

Dallas 129, Portland 118--Mark Aguirre had 35 points and Rolando Blackman had 34 at Dallas as the Mavericks handed the Trail Blazers their 10th loss in a row on the road.

Denver 101, Washington 91--Alex English scored 33 points and the Nuggets took charge of the boards and played stellar defense to stop the Bullets at Landover, Md.

Indiana 114, Milwaukee 104--Steve Stipanovich scored 22 points and Clint Richardson had 21 at Milwaukee as the Pacers stunned the Bucks. Paul Pressey and Craig Hodges of the Bucks missed the game because of injuries.