A roundup of the sports information of the week

BASKETBALL—NBA: For years BOSTON has called it Big D, the D standing for defense, and it was the determining factor in each of the first four games of the Eastern playoffs (page 66). Boston won the first game 108-100, with fine team defense and little Emmette Bryant running the offense, and took the second 112-97 because 1) the Knicks couldn't find the basket and 2) Bill Russell. At one point they got only one field goal in a 14-minute stretch. Russell had 29 rebounds and intimidated the Knicks, especially Walt Frazier. Said Bailey Howell, "Everytime they got underneath, they were looking for the guy with the beard." Said Frazier, "When you don't see Russell, that's when you're in trouble." Said Russell, "I'm in the prime of my life." He was a little past it in the third game, which NEW YORK won 101-91. Bill Bradley saved the Knicks, putting the biggest D of the series on John Havlicek. In the 32 minutes Dollar Bill was on him, Hondo got one basket—when Bradley was caught in a switch. Bradley also popped in six of seven in the second half from his spot along the baseline. The fourth game, which Boston won 97-96, was tied on 13 occasions. With the score 95-94 in favor of the Celts and 25 seconds left, Frazier was working his way confidently toward the basket, with Bryant on him, when Coach Red Holzman called a questionable time-out. Willis Reed missed the subsequent shot, Bryant was deliberately fouled in the backcourt and sank two foul shots in three attempts to ice the hard-fought game. In the West, LOS ANGELES led Atlanta 2-0 after winning two squeakers. In the final 24 seconds of the first game Mel Counts grabbed a rebound, was fouled in the act of shooting, scored and sank his free throw to give the Lakers a 95-93 victory. Jerry West tied the score 102-102 with 1:21 left in the second game; then, with 32 seconds to go, stole the ball from Walt Hazzard. Double-teamed following a Laker time out, West passed the ball to Johnny Egan, who layed it up with 17 seconds left. Wilt Chamberlain, who had 29 rebounds and 23 points, secured the 104-102 win when he blocked Zelmo Beaty's shot. The Hawks had earlier beaten San Diego four games to two.

Milwaukee took LEW ALCINDOR, natch, in the first round of the NBA draft; Phoenix, picking second, went with NEAL WALK of Florida, which was something of a surprise. LUCIUS ALLEN, formerly of UCLA, was selected by Seattle, TERRY DRISCOLL of Boston College by Detroit and LARRY CANNON of LaSalle by Chicago. Although Creighton had only a 13-13 record, two of its players went early, BOB PORTMAN to San Francisco in the first round and WALLY ANDERZUNAS to Atlanta in the second round.

The NBA's All-Star team, from which Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Jerry Lucas were notably absent, consisted of BILLY CUNNINGHAM, ELGIN BAYLOR, WESTLEY UNSELD, EARL MONROE and OSCAR ROBERTSON.

ABA: In the first round of the Eastern Division playoffs KENTUCKY leads Indiana 3-1 and MIAMI holds a 3-2 edge over Minnesota. In the West, NEW ORLEANS leads Dallas 3-1, while OAKLAND and DENVER stand 3 and 3. Playoff attendance is averaging less than 4,000 a game; the high was 6,841 at Denver, the low 1,520 at Bloomington, Minn.

Rick Barry of Oakland averaged 34 points in 35 games to lead the league in scoring. Other statistical leaders were Larry Jones of Denver, high scorer with 2,133 points, Indiana's Mel Daniels with an average of 16.5 rebounds a game, Barry who made 88.8% of his foul shots and Larry Brown, also of Oakland, who had a 7.1 assists-per-game average. Darel Carrier of Kentucky had the best shooting percentage in three-point field-goals—37.9%. James Harrison (Babe) McCarthy of the New Orleans Bucs was named Coach of the Year.

BOXING—HIROSHI KOBAYASHI of Japan gained a majority decision over Antonio Amaya of Panama to retain his world junior-lightweight title in Tokyo.

GOLF—GEORGE ARCHER won the Masters with a seven-under-par 281, one stroke ahead of Tom Weiskopf, George Knudson and Billy Casper, who had led up to the last day (page 24).

HOCKEY—MONTREAL, which had beaten the Rangers 4-0 to gain the Eastern Division semifinals, took two in a row from Boston to lead that series 2-0. The Habs won the first game 3-2 when Jean Beliveau tied the score with 56 seconds left in the third period and Ralph Backstrom caged a 40-footer after 42 seconds had elapsed in sudden-death overtime. The second game was virtually a carbon copy, the Canadiens winning 4-3 when Serge Savard tied it with 1:09 left in regulation play and Mickey Redmond deflected Savard's shot past Bruins' Goalie Ed Johnston with 4:55 gone in overtime. LOS ANGELES beat Oakland four games to three to advance to the Western finals (page 30). The Seals won the fifth game 4-1, third-line Center Bob Dillabough scoring twice, but the Kings took the sixth 4-3 and seventh 5-3, Lowell MacDonald stealing the puck from Norm Ferguson at the blue line and skating in alone to beat Gary Smith with the winning goal.

HORSE RACING—HIBERNIAN ($4.40), ridden by Pete (Parenthesis) Anderson, won the 1½-mile, $62,600 Pan American Handicap on Gulfstream's grass course, by a nose over Irish Rebellion. At Aqueduct SAN ROQUE ($10.20), Heliodoro Gustines up, took the 1‚⅛-mile, $57,400 Excelsior Handicap by three lengths over Tropic King II.

MOTOR SPORTS—ROBIN HILLYAR and JOCK AIRD of Kenya, driving a Taunus (German Ford) 20-M, won the 3,200-mile East African Safari. DATSUN took the team title with six of the first 15 places, as only 31 of the 85 starters finished the 3½-day rally.

SWIMMING—Nine American records fell and one was tied at the national AAU short-course championships in Long Beach, Calif. with three swimmers responsible for six of them: SUSIE ATWOOD of Lakewood (Calif.) AC, 200-yard backstroke in 2:07.51 and 100 back in 58.9; GARY HALL, unattached, of Garden Grove, Calif., 200 back in 1:52.0 and 400 IM in 4:00.8; BRIAN JOB, unattached, of Santa Clara, Calif., 100 breaststroke in 58.1 and 200 breast in 2:06.1 in a heat (he won the final in 2:07.34). HANS FASSNACHT of Phillips 66 Long Beach, with a 4:33.0 for the 500, and Mike Burton of the Arden Hills Club of Sacramento, with a 15:40.1 for the 1,650, set the other men's records, Burton lopping an astonishing 14.1 off Fassnacht's pending mark. KIM BRECHT of Lakewood AC, with a 2:24.3 for the 200 breaststroke in a heat (she won the final in 2:24.44), set the other women's record while Debbie Meyer tied her 1,650 record with a 17:04.4.

Win Young, a bronze medalist at Mexico City and a senior at Indiana, won the men's three-meter springboard diving championship, and CYNTHIA POTTER, a freshman at Indiana, the women's one-meter event. Win also won Cynthia. They announced their engagement after the diving competition.

TRACK & FIELD—BILL ADCOCKS of Britain ran the marathon—from Marathon to Athens—in 2:11:07.2, more than nine minutes faster than the former course record set by J√ºrgen Busch of East Germany two years ago. (This was the route which was traversed, according to a questionable legend, in 490 B.C. by an Athenian warrior in full armor named Tersippus or Erchieus or Phidippidis or Aristion, bringing news of the victory over the Persians.) Adcocks defeated the four men who finished ahead of him in the 1968 Olympics. Kenji Kimihara of Japan, the silver medalist, was second, Ismail Aksay of Turkey, fourth in Mexico, was third, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, the Olympic champion, was fourth and Mike Ryan of New Zealand, third at the Olympics, was 11th.

Ron Laird of the NYAC broke his American 3-mile and 5,000-meter walk records in a two-tape race in Santa Maria, Calif. with a 20:51.8 and a 21:34.2. The times were 12.0 and 15.3 better than his old marks.

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As head coach of the ABA Carolina Cougars, HORACE (Bones) McKINNEY, 50, coach at Wake Forest for eight years before retiring in 1965 to become a director of rehabilitation for North Carolina's Department of Correction. McKinney played for the Washington Capitols and Boston Celtics in the NBA.

HONORED: Light-heavyweight champion BOB FOSTER, as Fighter of the Year, ANGELO DUNDEE, as Manager of the Year and JOHN F.X. CONDON, Madison Square Garden fight publicist, for long and meritorious service; by the New York Boxing Writers Association.

RENEGED: JOE HALL, on his acceptance of the head basketball coach's job at St. Louis University, to stay on at Kentucky as an assistant to Adolph Rupp with the expectation of being named Rupp's successor when he retires.