Hakeem Olajuwon

Dee Brown scored six of his 14 points in the final 3:15, including two free throws with 35 seconds remaining, to help the Boston Celtics to a 108-106 victory over the Houston Rockets, spoiling a season-high 51-point effort by Hakeem Olajuwon. Dino Radja scored 23 points and Rick Fox added 16 for Boston, which snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the third time in 13 games. The Celtics won for the first time in nine road games. Olajuwon, who hit 20-of-37 shots from the field and 11-of-14 from the line, added 14 rebounds in his second career 50-point effort. Olajuwon scored 52 points on April 19th, 1990 against the Denver Nuggets. Clyde Drexler scored 21 points, including 20 in the first three quarters, and Eldridge Recasner added 13 for Houston, which had its three-game winning streak snapped as it played without Robert Horry, Sam Cassell and Mario Elie, who are sidelined with various ailments. "I couldn't be more proud of this team with the way they performed the last two nights," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "I can't believe how positive I feel after a loss. We got the shots we wanted at the end of the game. They just didn't go in. I don't know how many teams would even have had a chance to win this game. " After Olajuwon made two free throws and hit a short-range jumper to tie the game at 106-106 with 44 seconds left, Brown drove the lane and drew a blocking foul on Olajuwon 11 seconds later. Brown sank both free throws, but the Celtics almost blew the game. After Recasner missed a three-pointer, David Wesley missed both free throws, Olajuwon missed a hook shot and Radja missed a pair from the line with one second left. But the second missed free throw bounced into the hands of Boston as time expired. Brown's 18-footer gave the Celtics a 102-100 lead. Following Olajuwon's tying fadeaway with 2:50 left, Greg Minor made a layup and Brown added a jumper to give the Celtics a 106-102 advantage with 2:10 to go. Todd Day scored 12 points and Fox handed out nine assists for Boston, which shot 49.5 per cent (45-of-91) from the field and blocked 10 shots. "We realized they were short," Celtics coach M.L. Carr said. "But it's still real big to come in here and beat the world champions. We know we were fortunate that they were tired and short-handed. We wanted to push the ball and take advantage. Any time you have a chanve to beat the world champions, I don't care about the circumstances. I told the guys in the huddle, when you have this chance you just have to take it. Our game plan was to let Hakeem to do his thing and hopefully wear him down. I was just trying to help make Hakeem M-V-P again. You never see him not go 100 per cent on the floor." Drexler added nine rebounds and six assists for Houston, which shot 47 per cent (42-of-90) against the N-B-A's worst defensive team in dropping to 14-4 at The Summit.