European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Boston apr a painful Back and a Lack of practice did no to Stop Larry Bird from doing what he does Best everything. A a Quot Bird finished with 21 Points 12 rebounds and 12 assists and had four Points three assists a rebound and a steal in a 10-0 run that snapped a 110-110 tic and carried the Boston celtics to a 127-120 win Over the Indiana pacers in their playoff opener Friday night. A i Don t know if everyone got the full effect of what Larry Bird did a Boston coach Chris Ford said a a that a some of the guts est playing in be Ever  Bird missed seven of Bostons previous eight games and the last four Days of practice. Ford found out just before the Hawks d stops pistons Alburn Hills Mich. A the Detroit pistons three cat Hopes suddenly look like a Long shot. The pistons looked sluggish and out of synch Friday night against Atlanta a team they Defeated five straight times during the regular season and the Hawks took advantage. With Dominique Wilkins scoring 32 Points and playing Detroit style defense the Hawks beat the defending champions 103-98 before 21,454 fans at the Palace. \ a a if you can Point to one thing it was our Hustle a Atlanta a Glenn Rivers said. Joe Dumars scored 20 Points and Mark Aguirre had 19 for Detroit trying to become the third franchise in Aba history to win three consecutive championships. The other two Aba the acc a caters were the Minneapolis lakers 1952-54 and the Boston celtics 1959-66. A Basket by Wilkins gave Atlanta its largest Lead 82-70 with 11 21 left. But Isiah Thomas and Detroit a defense almost brought the pistons Back. Thomas went Down on a flagrant foul by Kevin Willis got up and Sank two free throws to Cut the Lead to 89-85. Vinnie Johnson Shook shot just before the 24-second Buzzer pulled the pistons into a 93-93 tie with 2 27 remaining. After a timeout John Battle hit a Basket and two free throws and Willis another free throw building a 99-93 advantage with 55 seconds left. Dumars hit a three Printer with 26 seconds remaining for Detroit. Inside sports a new Welch beats Angels for a so Page 18 blues Kings stay alive with wins a Page 22 drug charge jails Maradona in Argentina a Page 22 . Amateur boxers beat Canada a Page 23 Powe Reba playoffs on an to Indiana at Boston 9 15 . Sunday new York at Chicago 11 15 . Sunday both delayed. Game began that Bird would play he played 41 minutes and scored 11 Points in the final period. After the game Bird was hospitalized and placed in traction a not because he was reinsured but in an Effort to improve his chances of playing sunday. A a it a not a medical emergency a celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said. A a it a just to help him  there was no word on whether Bird would play in sundays game at Boston. �?o1 did no to know what to expect because i Cvet missed that much coming into a playoff situation a Bird said. A i Haven t been feeling Good All  a a a that a Larry Bird a Bostons Brian Shaw said. A a he a still without practice one of the Best players around. He was a Little Rusty at the beginning but he came through when we needed  Reggie Lewis 20-footer with 4 39 left gave the celtics the Lead for Good at 112110 Bird then passed to Shaw for a reverse la tipi with 3 44 to go and assisted again when Shaw Sank a 10-footer with 3 20  Williams missed his shot on Indiana a next Possession and Bird rebounded. On the other end of the floor the stars and stripes april 28,1991 b Page 24 Bird 6 for 20 from the Field for the game hit a 19-footer with 2 37 to play and raised one Finger in Triumph before the Ball went through the Basket. Bird then stole the Ball from Chuck person was fouled and Sank both shots. That gave the celtics a120-110 Lead and they stayed ahead by at least six the rest of the Way. Lewis led Boston with 28 Points and Kevin Mchale scored 25. The pacers were led by Reggie Miller who had 20 of his 24 Points in the second half person with 23 and Williams with 20. Mulvin ignites Detroit a Bill Laimbeer rips a rebound away from Dominique Wilkins on Friday. San Antonio apr Chris Mullin had 27 Points and led a 10-0 third Quarter run As the Golden state warriors upset the san Antonio spurs 111-98 saturday to tie their Western conference playoff series at 1-1, the teams travel to Oakland for game 3 in the Bcst-of-5 series. The spurs won 130121 thursday in san Antonio. The warriors who held a 55-47 Lead at the half opened the third period with their 10 straight Points Ana led by As Many As 19 Points in the Quarter. Mulvin had 10 Points in in the period. A it Tim Hardaway added 20 Points for Golden state while Mitch Richmond and Sarunas Marciulionis each had 16 Points. A v but the Golden state defense was As important holding the spurs to 32 fewer Points than on thursday. In that game Willie Anderson had 38 Points and David. Robinson and Rod Strickland each had 30, As Many combined As the entire team had saturday. Robinson led the spurs saturday with 28 Points and 15 rebounds while Terry Cummings had 26 Points and 12 rebounds and Anderson had 19. But Strickland was limited to just 8 Points. San Antonio made an unsuccessful comeback Effort in the final period moving to within 10 Points in the last tour minutes. But the Effort Wasny to enough. San Antonio lost starting Forward Sean Elliott who broke his nose with 6 50 remaining in the second period and did hot play the rest of the game. Portland Ore. A Clyde Drexler scored 19 of his career playoff High 39 Points in the fourth Quarter As the Portland Trail blazers held off the stubborn Seattle supersonics 110-102 Friday night in their first round opener. Jerome Kersey added 31 Points including a crucial 18-foot jumper with 53 seconds to play that gave Portland a six Point Lead. The blazers who had the a bad a Best regular season. Record at 63-19 and swept the sonics 4-0 in the regular season led throughout after the games first three minutes. But Seattle never was More than 11 Points behind and was Down Only 98-96 after Michael Cage made two free throws with 2 06 to play. Drexler who scored 10 of Portland a final 14 Points boosted the Lead to four on a driving Layup with 1 52 to go then made it 102-96 with two free throws 24 seconds later. The sonics narrowed the margin to four three More times but got no closer. Eddie Johnson scored 33 Points 25 in the second half to Lead the sonics. Ricky Pierce added 17 for Seattle the sonics Bench outscored Portland a 26-11. The blazers reserves were 4 for 14 from the Field for 10 in the first half. Drexler a total was the third highest for a Blazer in the playoffs. He scored eight in the final two minutes. He also had nine assists and seven rebounds. A the was unbelievable a Portland coach Rick Adelman said a you talk about superstars in this league. Very few Guys can do what he did. He just topic