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A roundup of the week Jan. 11-17
BASKETBALL—NBA: Both Milwaukee and Los Angeles suffered letdowns after their momentous meeting, with the Bucks dropping two of three and the Lakers one of three. Phoenix startled Milwaukee when Dick Van Arsdale tossed in two free throws after time ran out for a 115-114 win. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored only one point in the second half and fouled out for the first time this season. The next night Atlanta edged the Bucks 104-102 as Walt Bellamy scored 22 points in the first half and Lou Hudson 19 in the second. Milwaukee snapped out of its mild slump by holding Chicago to its lowest score ever, 104-77. Los Angeles defeated Detroit 123-103 as Wilt Chamberlain scored his 12,000th career field goal, and beat Philadelphia 135-121 as Wilt lifted Kevin Loughery in his arms and carried him off the court to break up a fight. But in between, the Lakers were the victims of Cincinnati Coach Bob Cousy's "most satisfying victory" when Tom Van Arsdale popped in a 15-foot jumper with one second left to edge Los Angeles 108—107. Despite the losses, Los Angeles led the Pacific Division by 13½ games over Seattle, and Milwaukee maintained a six-game bulge over Chicago in the Midwest. Boston won three in a row to open up a five-game lead in the Atlantic Division over New York, which ran its losing streak to five. "There's no reason we should be tired," said Knick Coach Red Holzman when given a chance to rationalize his club's losses, "we're just not playing well." Central Division leader Baltimore gained its sixth straight win and promptly dropped its next three.
ABA: Kentucky zipped through Dallas 120-104 and Pittsburgh 123-115 to raise its winning streak to 10 games and its East Division lead over Virginia to eight. Utah, in first place in the West, lost to runner-up Indiana 100-97 and New York 110-104 before snapping a three-game losing string with a 128-119 win over Virginia, despite league leader Charlie Scott's 44 points (his 15th game over 40). Second-place Indiana, five games behind the Stars, ran off three more wins after edging the Stars, beating Denver 114-99, and Memphis twice, 135-120 and 117-106. Somehow, the Pros scored a league-record 52 points in the last period of the first game and still lost by 15. New York slipped into third place in the East with four out of five wins as Rick Barry totaled 132 points and rookie John Roche 88. The Nets' 105-97 victory over Dallas broke the Chaps' five-game winning streak and the Floridians' All-Star Larry Jones, with a broken hand, was no help against the Nets, who won 110-94. By week's end, the Floridians broke their five-game losing streak, defeating Dallas 110-105 on Mack Calvin's 40 points.
BOWLING—DON JOHNSON of Akron, Ohio gained his 19th PBA championship and his fourth title in the last five PBA tournaments when he defeated Johnny Petraglia 218-213 in the finals of the $50,000 Denver Open. Johnson, winner of six tournaments and $81,349 in 1971, was also named Bowler of the Year by the BWAA, edging Petraglia, who set a single-season record with $85,065 in earnings. PAULA SPERBER of Miami was voted Woman Bowler of the Year.
BOXING—JOE FRAZIER knocked out Terry Daniels in the fourth round in New Orleans to retain his world heavyweight title (page 22).
FIGURE SKATING—JANET LYNN of Rockford, Ill. finished first and Julie Holmes of North Hollywood, Calif. second for the fourth consecutive year in the national senior women's event at the U.S. National championships in Long Beach, Calif. KEN SHELLEY of Downey, Calif. took the men's title and combined with JO JO STARBUCK. also of Downey, to repeat as pairs champions.
FOOTBALL—DALLAS won Super Bowl VI at New Orleans, defeating Miami 24-3 (page 10).
GOLF—JACK NICKLAUS won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am by holing an 18-foot birdie putt in a playoff with John Miller (page 16). Earlier in the week, GEORGE ARCHER took the Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open title when he won an 18-hole playoff by two strokes over Dave Hill and Tommy Aaron with a five-under-par 66.
HOCKEY—Boston tied New York for first place in the East Division when the Bruins defeated West leader Chicago 4-2 while the Rangers were losing to Toronto 4-3. Phil Esposito whacked the puck past brother Tony two times in the third period to beat the Black Hawks, and Dave Keon scored a goal with 23 seconds remaining to upset the Rangers. New York also had a late-game letdown against Chicago when Jerry (King Kong) Korab's 63-foot slapshot slipped into the goal with less than three minutes to play to tie the Rangers 5-5. Against Buffalo the next night, New York's second line (Bill Fairbairn, Walt Tkaczuk and Gene Carr) banged in five goals to beat the Sabres 5-2. Boston, meanwhile, warmed up for its big game with Chicago by listlessly tying Pittsburgh 2-2 and Los Angeles 1-1. Third-place Montreal, six points behind the leaders, walloped the Penguins 7-1 and the Sabres 6-2 to extend its undefeated home streak to 20 games.
SKIING—France's HENRI DUVILLARD took the slalom and ROGER ROSSAT-MIGNOD the giant slalom at the Berchtesgaden (West Germany) World Cup meet. But French Olympic hopes suffered a severe setback when Patrick Russet, rated No. 1 in the giant slalom and No. 3 in the slalom, broke his right leg. Later in the week, Austria's wily old KARL SCHRANZ zipped through the Arlberg Kandahar downhill at Kitzb√ºhel, Austria in 2:23.70 to beat Duvillard by .25. In one of their best downhill showings in years, three members of the U.S. team finished in the top 10—Mike Lafferty, fourth, Eric Poulsen, sixth, and Dave Currier, 10th. The next day, Schranz won the Hahnenkamm downhill, defeating Duvillard by .19, and climbed into second place in the World Cup standings, only six points behind Duvillard. In the slalom at Kitzb√ºhel, France's JEAN-NOEL AUGERT had the fastest times in both heats to take the event easily and give France the Hahnenkamm combined championship.
In the women's World Cup meet at Bad Gastein, Austria, ANNEMARIE PROELL of Austria won the downhill by more than two seconds to break Franchise Macchi's streak of four straight cup wins for France (she finished sixth), and BRITT LAFFORGUE of France followed with a slalom win by .15 over Miss Macchi. Despite her two losses. Miss Macchi held a 23-point lead over Miss Proell in the World Cup standings. Later in the week, Canada's BETSY CLIFFORD, a strong contender in the Olympic giant slalom, fractured her right ankle in a fall at a meet in Grindelwald, Switzerland.
SWIMMING—-Aussie BRAD COOPER broke the 800-meter world freestyle record by 4.8 seconds with an 8:23.8 clocking as he beat the former record holder, Gordon Windeatt of Australia, at the New South Wales championships in Sydney.
TRACK & FIELD—A day and a half after a 19-hour flight from Africa, Kenya's KIPCHOGE KEINO, who had not raced in three months, won the mile at the National Invitation meet in College Park, Md. His time, 3:59.4, was the fastest indoor mile ever this early in the season. Almost as impressive was MARTIN McGRADY's winning 1:09.2 in the 600-yard run, his first race after a year's layoff. REYNALDO BROWN became the first American to clear 7'4" indoors in the high jump as he defeated outdoor record-holder Pat Matzdorf, and MEL PENDER equaled the 60-yard dash indoor record of 5.9.
Keino flew to Albuquerque to compete in the Jaycee Invitational the next night and won the mile in 4:04.2. AL FEUERBACH gained the outstanding male athlete award with a 68'10½" toss in the shotput, missing his indoor record by half an inch. KATHY GIBBONS, a 17-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., set a women's indoor mark in the 1,000-yard run with a 2:34.8, three seconds below the old record, while Rod Milburn lost his first hurdles race since 1970 when he finished third to WILLIE DAVENPORT in the high hurdles.
