clarinews@clarinet.com (JOE CIALINI, UPI Sports Writer) (01/18/90)
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- As far as Charles Barkley is concerned, the Philadelphia 76ers successfully defended their turf as well as defeated the Detroit Pistons. Barkley scored 30 points Wednesday night, including a follow shot with 11 seconds to play, to give Philadelphia a 112-108 victory over Detroit for the 76ers' fourth win in five games. The game was marred by several skirmishes and play was physical throughout. ``If you look at the game, they were trying to intimidate our team,'' Barkley said. ``We're not going to be intimidated by anybody, not in this building. There's nothing worse than being intimidated at home.'' Barkley's follow shot gave the 76ers a 110-108 lead. Bill Laimbeer blocked Rick Mahorn's shot, but Barkley grabbed the rebound and scored to give the 76ers a 13-3 record at the Spectrum. ``That's why they're the defending world champions,'' Philadelphia Coach Jim Lynam said of the Pistons' play. ``It was so physical the officials wanted to keep it under control, so they blew a lot of whistles. The two teams just went toe to toe.'' With five seconds to go, Isiah Thomas lost the ball out of bounds on a drive to the basket and Barkley hit a dunk with two-tenths of a second left for the final margin. ``I was just trying to keep him from turning the corner,'' said Johnny Dawkins, who was guarding Thomas. ``That's the only thing you can do. I didn't want to give him a lane to the basket. I was hoping to make him pass the ball and let somebody else beat us. Luckily, it worked out OK.'' Not for Pistons Coach Chuck Daly. ``He (Thomas) turned to move around him off the dribble, he got bumped and took (the ball) off his foot,'' Daly said. ``It should have been a foul, but I'm not an official.'' Hersey Hawkins scored 25 points and Mike Gminski added 20 for Philadelphia, which is 2-0 against Detroit this year after losing eight in a row to the Pistons over the past two seasons. Detroit, which lost for only the third time in its last 15 games, got a season-high 32 points from James Edwards, 17 from Joe Dumars and 16 from Thomas. ``He has been playing real well lately,'' Daly said of Edwards, who hit 12 of 17 shots from the floor. ``We wanted to go to him in the second half. They had trouble containing him.'' Hawkins stole a rebound from Laimbeer, saved the ball from going out of bounds and then hit a three-point shot to give Philadelphia a 103-100 lead with 2:29 to play. ``That may have been the biggest play in a game of big plays,'' Lynam said. ``He made the save, then had the presence of mind to come back on the floor and get a three.'' Edwards brought the Pistons within 103-102 with a pair of free throws and, after Hawkins hit two from the line, Edwards' dunk cut the lead to 105-104 with 1:44 left. After Gminski hit a jumper, Edwards hit two more from the free-throw line. Detroit was whistled for an illegal defense and Hawkins made the free throw for a 108-106 lead with 58 seconds to play, but Barkley was called for an offensive foul. Laimbeer then hit a jumper to tie the score with 31 seconds to go. Dumars scored seven points as the Pistons used a 9-2 spurt to tie the score 95-95 with 5:03 to play. Barkley had hit two free throws to put Philadelphia ahead 91-84 with 7:53 to go. Barkley, Laimbeer, Thomas and Mahorn were each assessed technical fouls for a pair of shoving incidents with 10:45 to play in the fourth quarter. ``I thought the game was physical with Barkley and Mahorn, but that is something you would expect,'' Edwards said. John Salley made two free throws to bring the Pistons within 80-75 at the end of the third quarter. Philadelphia outscored the Pistons 14-2 to take an 80-73 lead on a jumper by Gminski after Detroit had taken a 71-66 advantage on a jumper by Dumars. Detroit rallied in the second quarter, outscoring Philadelphia 30-24 to close within 53-49 at halftime as the Pistons took advantage of some sloppy Philadelphia defense to score easy baskets. Philadelphia played the contest without sixth man Ron Anderson, who sprained his left knee in Saturday night's game against Washington. Lewis Lloyd, signed to a 10-day contract earlier this week by the 76ers, scored two points in five minutes of action.