A roundup of the week Oct. 10-16

BASEBALL—The OAKLAND A's took a 2-0 lead in the World Series against Cincinnati with three consecutive home games coming up (page 26).

PRO BASKETBALL—ABA: The question this year seems to be: Who can stop Carolina? The Cougars, with eight men scoring in double figures, whipped Virginia in the opener 123-115. A day later, defending champion Indiana became their victim 106-88, and then the Cougars smashed New York 126-78. The Nets earlier had downed Kentucky 114-90. Memphis lost to Indiana and San Diego, the league's newest franchise. Utah's balanced attack scored impressive wins over Denver and Dallas for the West's lead at week's end.

NBA: Boston (3-0) was sitting atop the Atlantic Division, New York was second (2-1), and both had trounced Los Angeles (page 30). Consequently Seattle led the Lakers in the Pacific Division while Milwaukee and Baltimore moved to the top of the Midwest and Central Divisions.

BOXING—EMILE GRIFFITH earned a 12-round decision over Joe DeNucci in Boston, beating him for the second time in a month.

Great Britain's JOE BUGNER knocked out defending champion Jurgen Blin of West Germany in the eighth round of their fight in London to win the European heavyweight title for the second time.

PRO FOOTBALL—AFC: MIAMI won its fifth straight, 24-10 over San Diego, but the Dolphins may have to get along without Quarterback Bob Griese for the rest of the season. He broke a bone in his leg and dislocated his ankle when hit in the first quarter. Earl Morrall, 38, came in to throw touchdown passes to Howard Twilley and Paul Warfield and preserve Miami's two-game lead in the Eastern Division. The Jets held second place by crushing the Patriots 41-13. Emerson Boozer and John Riggins gave Joe Namath's arm a rest by combining for four touchdowns and 318 yards rushing. OAKLAND took over the lead in the West with two victories, 34-0 over Houston Monday night and 28-16 over Buffalo on Sunday when Clarence Davis scored two late touchdowns. CINCINNATI maintained its one-game lead over PITTSBURGH in the Central Division by holding Kansas City on the nine-yard line for three downs in the last few seconds and upsetting the Chiefs 23-16. The Steelers got 115 yards rushing from rookie Franco Harris and handed Houston its second loss of the week 24-7.

NFC: Craig Morton completed 22 of 30 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns and Calvin Hill scored twice as DALLAS beat Baltimore 21-0. It was the Colts' first regular season shutout since 1965, and their four consecutive home defeats this year represent their worst streak in 12 years. WASHINGTON, the NFL's second best rushing defensive club behind the Cowboys, kept pace with its Eastern Division rivals by flattening St. Louis 33-3. Charlie Harraway bulled his way to two touchdowns and Curt Knight kicked four field goals. Suddenly LOS ANGELES' competition in the West is ATLANTA, not San Francisco. The Rams, sparked by the running of their new backfield—Bob Thomas and Willie Ellison—beat Philadelphia 34-3. The Falcons had to overcome five fumbles and a 14-0 deficit, but three Bob Berry touchdown passes made possible a 21-14 victory over New Orleans. CHICAGO ended an eight-game winless streak by blanking Cleveland 17-0. It was the Bears' first shutout since they beat Baltimore 13-0 seven years ago. MINNESOTA, trying to make its way back into contention in the Central Division, defeated Denver 23-20 when Fran Tarkenton passed to Gene Washington for a 31-yard TD with 17 seconds remaining. The NEW YORK Giants pulled the upset of the week, downing San Francisco 23-17 in their first game with the 49ers in four years.

GOLF—TOM WEISKOPF beat Lee Trevino 4 and 3 in the finals of the Piccadilly World Match Play championship in Wentworth, England to take the winner's purse of $20,225.

The UNITED STATES withstood a strong challenge from France and won the Women's World Amateur championship in Buenos Aires. The U.S. team, made up of Laura Baugh, Jane Booth and Mary Anne Budke, won by four strokes in the four-day, 72-hole competition.

HARNESS RACING—LADY LOVE ME ($13.20), driven by Bob Camper, scored an upset victory over heavily favored Geranium, who finished fourth, in the $104,540 New York Sires Stakes trot for 2-year-old fillies at Yonkers Racewav. WAYNE EDEN ($20.20), driven by Del Insko, captured the $105,179 Sires event for 2-year-old colts.

HOCKEY—WHA: With the addition of this new 12-team league, there are now two more clubs playing professional hockey than football teams in the NFL. In its first few days of competition the WHA, with seven teams in its West Division and only five in the East, was slow to catch the imagination of the fans; scores were high, crowds were low, Derek Sanderson did not make his debut in Philadelphia because the Blazers' ice was unfit, and Bobby Hull did not play for anybody because of legal problems. On the bright side, Cleveland and Houston had undefeated hockey teams to offset their losing football clubs and New York's third hockey entry, the Raiders, won on a day when the city's two NHL brothers, the Rangers and the Islanders, lost.

NHL: The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, playing without Bobby Orr, lost their first two games before beating the Islanders 7-4. The New York Rangers fell behind their Long Island rivals in the East standings when they surrendered 19 goals in their first three games. Detroit won its first four games to lead the East and Montreal was also undefeated, outscoring its opposition 14-3. In the West, Chicago was 4-0 and led unbeaten Pittsburgh by two points.

HORSE RACING—STOP THE MUSIC ($15.60) was awarded victory in the $146,500 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park when favored Secretariat, winner of five of his seven starts, was placed second for bearing in at the head of the stretch.

Prince Ippi, ridden by Bill Carson of England, won the $136,500 Grand Prix of Europe in Cologne by seven lengths over Tarim.

TENNIS—THE U.S. beat Rumania 3-2 in Bucharest to win the Davis Cup for the fifth year in a row. Stan Smith figured in all of America's scoring with a five-set victory over Ilie Nastase on opening day, a doubles win with Eric van Dillen over Nastase and Ion Tiriac and a five-set singles triumph over Tiriac (page 22).

Chris Evert, 17, beat Kerry Melville 7-5, 6-4 to win the $100,900 Virginia Slims Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., the richest women's event in history. But she could not accept the $25,000 first prize; she is still an amateur (page 86).

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As manager of the California Angels succeeding Del Rice, BOBBY WINKLES, 42, a coach under Rice last year, coach of three NCAA championship winners at Arizona State University from 1965-69 and the first college baseball coach to become a major league manager.

FIRED: As head coach of the Baltimore Colts, DON McCAFFERTY, who directed them to a Super Bowl title in 1970. McCafferty joined the club in 1959 as a scout and end coach and will be replaced by Defensive Line Coach JOHN SANDUSKY.

SIGNED: To a two-year contract in excess of $300,000 for the first year, PELE, 32, the Brazilian soccer king who threatened to retire from the Santos team for whom he has played for 16 years.

DIED: DAVE BANCROFT, 81, a National League shortstop for 16 years who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971; in Superior, Wis. As a rookie in 1915, he sparked the Philadelphia Phillies to their first pennant and later played on consecutive New York Giants pennant winners from 1921-23.