A roundup of the week Oct. 21-27

PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: Buffalo found the winning formula, and Bob McAdoo is the prime ingredient. McAdoo had 33 points and 22 rebounds in a 134-118 victory over New Orleans, and he scored 41 against Chicago as the lead changed 27 times before the Braves won out 105-104. Washington stayed undefeated, edging Kansas City-Omaha and Houston before victimizing Milwaukee two nights in a row. Milwaukee managed one win, a 92-90 squeaker over Chicago, but continued to occupy the Midwest cellar. Kansas City-Omaha led that division, the Royals defeating Los Angeles once and Chicago twice. Seattle recovered to post three wins, and Cleveland did the same thing, Atlanta rookie John Drew had 41 points as the Hawks crushed Philadelphia 125-92. Portland nipped Golden State 107-106, then lost to the Warriors 99-97. Philadelphia ruined the Jazz debut in New Orleans 102-89 before falling to Houston 110-86. New York dropped injury-riddled Boston 97-86 and Phoenix stopped Detroit 100-90.

ABA: Kentucky had fun with Virginia, beating the Squires by 54 points, 136-82, with 10 Kentucky players in double figures. The Colonels also took two from Indiana and one from San Antonio, but could not hit against St. Louis, and lost 91-86 as Spirit Marvin Barnes held Artis Gilmore to 12 points while scoring 25 himself. The Spirits also haunted Utah 116-109 and spooked Virginia 118-112. Utah won its first game, over San Diego, before getting kicked by San Antonio 101-68. New York won two from Memphis and another from San Antonio in which Julius Erving accounted for 37 points. Travis Grant poured in 44 points for San Diego in the Q's 116-110 win over New York. Denver defeated Utah 120-106 and San Diego 137-101 and Indiana got 32 points from George McGinnis in its 122-107 victory over St. Louis.

CHESS—After 16 games of the world challengers' match in Moscow, 14 of which ended in draws, ANATOLY KARPOV continued to lead Viktor Korchnoi by the substantial margin of 2-0.

FIELD HOCKEY—In Philadelphia the U.S. National team tied Wales 1-1 to close out the Welsh squad's 20-game tour of America. Wales, with a 17-0-3 record, scored 88 goals and allowed three.

PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: After Roger Wehrli intercepted Sonny Jurgensen's first pass and ran 53 yards for a touchdown, ST. LOUIS held off Washington 23-20 to win its seventh straight and remain the only undefeated team. NEW ENGLAND boosted its record to 6-1 with a 17-14 victory over Minnesota. Jim Plunkett hit on a 10-yard pass to Bob Windsor for the winning touchdown. LOS ANGELES downed the New York Jets 20-13 (page 22). Roger Staubach threw to Drew Pearson for one touchdown, and Pearson threw to Golden Richards for another, as DALLAS stampeded the New York Giants 21-7. HOUSTON jarred Cincinnati 34-21, picking up five Bengal fumbles. NEW ORLEANS upset Philadelphia 14-10 on a three-yard, last-minute touchdown run by Jess Phillips. CLEVELAND beat Denver in another tight game 23-21, while a 41-yard field goal by Errol Mann with nine seconds left lifted DETROIT to a 19-17 win over Green Bay. MIAMI revived in the second half to dump Baltimore 17-7, KANSAS CITY rallied to beat San Diego 24-14 and OAKLAND dropped San Francisco 35-24. John Leypoldt's three field goals (47, 25 and 36 yards) eased BUFFALO'S 16-6 victory over Chicago and kept the Bills tied with New England in the AFC East.

WFL: The league office upped the number of teams that will appear in the postseason playoffs to eight, which means that of the 10 teams still in the league, only two will be eliminated in regular-season play. And the two most likely candidates for elimination won last week. SHREVEPORT, now 6-10-1, stunned Birmingham 31-0 as Jim Nance rushed past the 1,000-yard mark to become the first player to achieve that total in both the NFL and WFL. Nance picked up 126 yards and scored the first Steamer touchdown. The other forlorn hope, PORTLAND, also 6-10-1, shocked Memphis 26-25. Ex-Giant Randy Johnson passed for four touchdowns as the HAWAIINS wasted Chicago 60-17 and Jim Corcoran threw for three in PHILADELPHIA'S 45-7 romp over Southern California, the only team which has clinched a playoff spot. In the only routine game FLORIDA'S Tommy Reamon gained 189 yards and Bob Davis threw two scoring passes as the Blazers beat Charlotte 15-11.

GOLF—CYNTHIA HILL and DEBORAH MASSEY led the U.S. to the Women's World Amateur Team Championship, in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Their 144-hole score was 620, a modest 77.5 per round, but still 16 strokes better than the British and South Africans, who tied for second.

GYMNASTICS—LUIMILLA TURISCHEVA took top honors in the women's individual all-round competition, with Olga Korbut second, as the Soviet women retained their world team championship in Varna, Bulgaria. In the men's competition JAPAN edged the Russians for the title.

HARNESS RACING—SHIRLEY'S BEAU ($31.40), William Popfinger in the sulky, paced the mile in 2:03[3/5] to win the $85,117 Roosevelt Futurity Pace for 2-year-olds at Roosevelt Raceway.

Noble Rogue, driven by Archie McNeil, covered the mile in 2:05[3/5] to win the nonwagering $85,116 Westbury Futurity Trot for 2-year-olds, at Roosevelt.

HOCKEY—NHL: The New York Islanders, surprise of the Patrick Division, turned in their first shutout ever, 5-0 against Washington, and blanked Minnesota 4-0 for No. 2. In between they nipped Atlanta 2-1. The Flames had better luck against Pittsburgh, clipping the Penguins 5-1, and they really singed Detroit 10-1. Boston walloped California 5-0, then tied Pittsburgh 5-5 with Bobby Orr scoring his first three goals of the season. Orr's fourth goal came in the Bruins' 4-4 tie with St. Louis. Philadelphia tied Montreal 2-2 and beat Los Angeles 4-2 before an affair to remember in northern California. There Referee Bryan Lewis doled out a league record 232 penalty minutes in the Seals' 4-1 win over the Flyers, after a third-period bench-clearing brawl interrupted play for 40 minutes. Chicago routed Toronto 9-3 and ripped Minnesota 6-0. Billy Fairbairn had three goals in the Rangers' 5-1 victory over St. Louis. Vancouver beat poor Kansas City 5-3, but the Scouts managed a 4-4 tie with the Golden Seals. Buffalo tied Toronto 5-5, then stopped St. Louis 2-0, while Los Angeles ran over the Sabres 7-2 and Detroit 4-2.

WHA: Toronto, atop the Canadian Division with a 5-0 record, was slap-shot happy against Minnesota, pummeling the Fighting Saints 11-2 after edging Michigan earlier 4-3. Pat Hickey had three goals and Tom Simpson four. The Toros also defeated Winnipeg 3-1. Quebec opened its season quietly enough with a 4-1 victory over Indianapolis and then beat Houston 7-2, Michigan 6-2 and Phoenix 4-1 for a rather full week. New England, ahead in the East, beat Houston and Indianapolis, while San Diego, the West front-runner, outscored Cleveland and Phoenix. Vancouver won two games, Houston slipped past Minnesota, and Cleveland and Phoenix played to a 4-4 tie, including overtime.

HORSE RACING—DAHLIA, ridden by Lester Piggott, won the 1‚Öù-mile, $152,750 Canadian International Championship Stakes at Woodbine Raceway in Ontario (page 24).

L'Enjoleur ($2.30), Sandy Hawley up, scored an 11-length victory in the $57,010 Cup and Saucer Stakes for 2-year-olds at Woodbine, setting a course record of 1:46[2/5] for the 1‚⅛ miles on turf.

TENNIS—Argentina's GUILLERMO VILAS overpowered Raul Ramirez 6-0, 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the $100,000 Aryamehr Tournament in Tehran, Iran. Vilas paired with MANUEL ORANTES to take the doubles 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 from Ramirez and Brian Gottfried.

Britain wrested the Wightman Cup from the U.S., drubbing the Americans 6-1 at Deeside, Wales. British Captain Virginia Wade won both of her singles matches, as did Glynis Coles.

MILEPOSTS—REFUNDED: By the Pittsburgh Pirates to Pitcher JERRY REUSS, the $500 he had paid in fines levied for taking his wife on road trips.

SIGNED: VIC EDWARDS, to coach the WTT Pittsburgh Triangles, replacing Ken Rosewall. Edwards, an Australian, is the personal coach of Evonne Goolagong, who plays for the Triangles.

TRADED: BOBBY BONDS, from the San Francisco Giants to the New York Yankees, for BOBBY MURCER; and BILLY WILLIAMS, from the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland A's, for DAROLD KNOWLES, BOB LOCKER and a minor-leaguer.

DIED: PAT PIEPER, 88, public-address announcer for the Chicago Cubs from 1916, when Wrigley Field was built, until 1974; in Chicago.

DIED: HARRIOT SUMNER CURTIS, 93, national women's golf champion in 1906; in Manchester, Mass. In 1932 she and her sister established the Curtis Cup, awarded to the winning team in the U.S. Great Britain women's amateur golf matches.