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A roundup of the week Jan. 13-19
PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: The expansion New Orleans Jazz was on a ministreak—back-to-back victories over Houston and Seattle—with Pistol Pete Maravich scoring 42 points, making 17 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 113-109 win over the SuperSonics. With a grand total of five wins the last-place Jazz was 23½ games behind Central leader Washington. The Bullets' Mike Riordan held Rick Barry of Pacific leader Golden State to a season-low eight points while scoring 32 himself as the Bullets romped 125-101. Bill Walton (page 10) scored just two free throws in Portland's 89-81 loss to Cleveland, but had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the next game, a win over Houston. The Rockets were blasted by Atlantic leader Boston 123-101 in the Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center, the first of three Celtic "home" games to be played in the new arena. Injury-plagued Buffalo was a game behind Boston, but began the week with a 114-101 thrashing of the Celtics before 15,377 fans in Memorial Auditorium. The New York Knicks, struggling on a road trip, took command early and beat the Chicago Bulls 104-91 before a capacity crowd. The Knicks' All-Star back-court of Early Monroe and Walt Frazier tallied 25 points apiece. Detroit continued to lead the Midwest Division by 1½ games although it beat only Phoenix during the week. Kansas City-Omaha fell to last, and Milwaukee moved up to third by beating Philadelphia and Golden State. Rookie Guard Tom Henderson scored 30 points as Atlanta bombed Washington 108-85; Los Angeles, which did not play, got some good news when Cazzie Russell resumed practice. The East beat the West 108-102 in the All-Star Game.
ABA: New York's Julius Erving, the only unanimous selection in the league's upcoming All-Star Game, displayed his versatility as the Nets beat Kentucky 108-93 before a Nassau Coliseum crowd of 12,133, biggest of the season. The win moved the Nets into first place in the East ahead of the Colonels as Erving had game highs of 40 points and 13 rebounds, made four steals, a pair of assists and blocked a shot. The next night the Nets squeaked by hapless Virginia, which also lost to the Colonels earlier in the week. The third-place Spirits of St. Louis defeated fourth-place Memphis, which, like the leaders, handed last-place Virginia yet another loss. George McGinnis did the offensive rebounding and scoring in a 111-106 Indiana victory over the Nets. McGinnis, the league-leading scorer, added another 25 points while grabbing off 22 free balls. San Diego's Travis Grant tallied 39 points in a 121-109 win over West leader Denver as the Q's went 2-2 in the week. The Nuggets' Mack Calvin scored his 10,000th point as Denver walloped Memphis 126-104 for its 24th straight victory at home. Second-place San Antonio ended the week nine games behind Denver despite a 3-0 record. The Utah Stars, 17 games to the rear, beat Indiana 122-118.
GOLF—JOHNNY MILLER won his second tournament in two weeks, firing a 25-under-par 263 to win the PGA's Dean Martin-Tucson Open.
Kathy Whitworth shot a final-round 73 to beat Sandra Post 144-142 and earn $15,000 for winning the 36-hole LPGA Triple Crown tournament in Miami.
HOCKEY—NHL: Chicago's Grant Mulvey, an 18-year-old rookie, had his parents from British Columbia on hand when he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 home win over Smythe Division leader Vancouver. Earlier in the week the Black Hawks ended the New York Rangers' eight-game victory streak. The Rangers came back with wins over Minnesota and the Canucks and tied California. Philadelphia, the Patrick leader, flew off to a 4-0 week, averaging four goals a game in wins over the Seals, Kansas City, Washington and Atlanta. The New York Islanders were 1-1-1, losing to Toronto, tying St. Louis and defeating Detroit 5-1. The Buffalo Sabres held onto the top spot in the Adams Division as they beat Vancouver twice and blanked California 4-0. Boston's suspended Dave Forbes was indicted for aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon (page 16); the best his teammates could do without him was to tie Pittsburgh. Montreal, the leader of the Norris Division, beat Washington and the Bruins. The Los Angeles Kings also defeated Boston.
WHA: Indianapolis promoted its first home game with Cleveland as "Guaranteed Win Night," promising to provide a free ticket for the next game to each fan who showed up should the last-place team lose. The Racers met the guarantee before a crowd of 10,785, winning 4-2. New England stayed atop the East Division, picking up a pair of victories. Houston, the best in the West, blasted Edmonton 9-2, while the Oilers rolled over Phoenix 7-1. Toronto beat the Aeros, and tied the Roadrunners 5-5, but fell even further behind Canadian leader Quebec when the Nordiques won three games by a combined score of 17-5, including a 6-2 spanking of Vancouver. Michigan had three games canceled because of its uncertain financial status, and Winnipeg lost its only game. Chicago beat Minnesota 3-2, and San Diego had three close wins.
HORSE RACING—RICKS JET ($84.20), ridden by Miguel Rivera, threaded his way between horses in the stretch to win the six-furlong $32,600 Hibiscus Stakes at Hialeah (page 46) in 1:10[1/5]. HONKY STAR ($3.80), Darrell McHargue up, won the $26,475 Hiawasse Handicap at Garden State Park, covering the six furlongs in 1:12[3/5].
TENNIS—ROD LAVER won $12,000 for beating Arthur Ashe 6-3, 7-5 in the finals of the CBS Classic at the Palmas del Mar resort in Puerto Rico. JIMMY CONNORS defeated West Germany's Karl Meiler 6-0, 6-2 in the finals of the Bahamas International Open at Freeport to win $13,000.
Billie Jean King, playing her last singles match on the women's tour, won the $75,000 Virginia Slims tournament in Sarasota, defeating Chris Evert 6-2, 6-3 to earn $15,000.
TRACK & FIELD—STEVE SMITH set a professional world indoor pole-vault record, clearing 18'2½" at the first pro track meet of the season in Montreal. DWIGHT STONES set a world indoor high-jump record with a leap of 7'5" in the Meet of Champions at Pocatello, Idaho. The previous record of 7'4½" by Valeri Brumel in 1961 was the sport's longest-standing indoor record. The following night at the Sunkist Invitational in Los Angeles, Stones improved his record with a 7'5¼" jump. At the same meet, DAN RIPLEY, whose best before last month was 16'3", won the pole vault with a world amateur indoor record of 18'1", and FRANCIE LARRIEU set a women's world indoor record in the 1,000-meter run (2:40.2).
MILEPOSTS—FORMED: The professional WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, with six proposed franchises. The league is slated to begin play in 1975-76.
INDUCTED: Into the professional football Hall of Fame, ROOSEVELT BROWN, New York Giant offensive tackle (1953-65), GEORGE CONNOR, Chicago linebacker, offensive and defensive tackle (1948-55), DANTE LAVELLI, Cleveland end (1946-56) and LENNY MOORE, Baltimore halfback (1956-67).
SIGNED: TED MARCHIBRODA, to a three-year contract as head coach of the Baltimore Colts. For the past nine years he served as Coach George Allen's offensive coach with the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins.
SIGNED: HARMON KILLEBREW, the fifth leading home-run hitter of all time, to a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals. In his 21 years of baseball (14 with the Minnesota Twins) Killebrew has belted 559 homers and compiled a .514 slugging percentage.
DIED: BILL SPENCER, 26, from injuries occuring in a crash durng at preliminary race to the Grand National stock-car opener; at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway.
DIED: ALVARO PINEDA, 29, the second-leading jockey at the Santa Anita meeting, fatally injured when his horse reared in the starting gate; at Santa Anita Park, Calif.
