A roundup of the week April 28-May 4

PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: Defending champion Boston got into gear with a 101-90 defeat of Washington, after losing 100-95 and 117-92. The Celtics' vaunted fast-break offense showed signs of jelling with John Havlicek (26 points), Dave Cowens (24) and Jo Jo White (21) keeping a Boston Garden sellout crowd jumping. Chicago took a 2-1 game lead over Golden State in their series with a 108-101 triumph at home as Norm Van Lier contributed 35 points, a playoff career high (page 28).

ABA: Denver, the big gun in the West during the regular season, was silenced in seven games by Indiana, as Pacer George McGinnis continued his scoring spree with 40 points in the final game, a 104-96 victory for underdog Indiana. A standing-room crowd of 7,401 showed up for the contest in Denver, where the Nuggets lost three of four games in the series. During the regular season Denver had bowed only twice in 42 home games. In the sixth game at Indianapolis, an ABA single-game attendance record was set, 17,421 showing up to see Denver tie the semifinal series with a 104-99 win. The record crowd also pushed the ABA's total attendance for 1974-75 to 3,007,715, the first time in its eight-year history that the league has drawn more than three million. Form prevailed in the Eastern Conference, where favored Kentucky dropped only one game in its series with St. Louis, the conqueror of New York, last year's titleholder. The fifth and series-clinching game was an impressive 123-103 spanking of the young Spirits in Louisville. St. Louis' Marvin Barnes was the game's leading scorer with 35 points but Artis Gilmore had 29 and corner-shooting Dan Issel 28 for the Colonels.

GOLF—BRUCE CRAMPTON fired a three-under-par 69 for a 15-under 273 to beat Gil Morgan by two strokes and win $30,000 in the $150,000 Houston Open.

HARNESS RACING—GLASGOW ($10.60), Peter Haughton driving, won the $33,959 United States Harness Writers Trot at Roosevelt Raceway by 2½ lengths over Noble Tryst, covering the mile in 2:02[4/5].

HOCKEY—NHL: Down two games to none in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens rebounded to twice rout the Buffalo Sabres at the Forum. The initial Montreal victory, by a 7-0 count, marked the first time since Jan. 24, 1974 that the Canadiens were able to defeat Buffalo. Ken Dryden got his third career playoff shutout and Guy La-fleur recorded a hat trick. In the fight-marred second win, Montreal outshot Buffalo 43-25 in an 8-2 shellacking. Whether New York could stage another comeback was the question after the Islanders dropped their third straight to the Philadelphia Flyers. Recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for the first two games, Bernie Parent of the Flyers registered his third shutout in two seasons of playoff competition with a 1-0 blanking of the Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y. Reggie Leach scored the game's only goal early in the third period.

WHA: Houston tuned up for its championship series with Quebec with a four-game sweep of San Diego that included two shutouts by rookie goal-tender Ron Grahame (4-0, 2-1, 6-0, 5-4). In the final game, played at Houston, youth and age provided the winning combination as 47-year-old Gordie Howe tied the game at 4-4 in the final regulation period after stealing the puck near the Mariners' net and Jim Sherrit tallied two goals, including the winning one in overtime (page 73). "Houston is at the top of its game," said Mariner Coach Harry Howell. "You can't stay at the peak all the time and if the Aeros let up a little, Quebec could give them trouble." Quebec took the final game of its playoff with Minnesota, winning the series 4-2. With the score 2-2 in the final period of the sixth game at St. Paul, Nordique goalie Richard Brodeur stymied a crucial breakaway by Fighting Saint Mike Antonovich. "You have to be patient. A goalie has to wait," said Brodeur. Seconds after Brodeur's heroics, Nordique Michel Parizeau responded with the winning goal. Rejean Houle drilled in an open-net shot for extra measure with 31 seconds left to play. Two nights later Houston and Quebec faced off in Houston for the first game of their title series, the Aeros continuing their winning form 6-2.

HORSE RACING—FOOLISH PLEASURE ($5.80), Jacinto Vasquez riding, won the 101st Kentucky Derby, covering the 1¼ miles in 2:02, 1¾ lengths ahead of Avatar (page 20).

Gold and Myrrh ($17.20), Walter Blum up, won the $84,825 1-mile Grey Lag Handicap by 1½ lengths over Monetary Principle in 2:01[3/5] at Aqueduct.

LACROSSE—No. 1-ranked Johns Hopkins remained unbeaten after a 13-10 win over Army at West Point (page 76). Navy, paced by Bob DeSimone's five goals, upset Virginia 15-11. In the college division, Hobart avenged its loss in last year's national championship final by downing Towson State 17-15.

MOTOR SPORTS—BUDDY BAKER held off two late-race challenges by David Pearson to win the Winston 500 stock car race at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. Baker averaged 144.948 mph in his Ford for the 188 laps.

RUGBY—PALMER COLLEGE of CHIROPRACTIC in Davenport, Iowa won the Mid-America Cup by defeating Ohio State 13-4 in the finals at Northbrook, Ill.

SOCCER—NASL: Miami's Steven David led the Toros to a 4-0 mark in the Eastern Division as they beat New York 3-2 and Rochester 4-3. David scored four times in the two contests to up his season stats to a league-leading seven goals and two assists. The Los Angeles Aztecs and the surging Vancouver Whitecaps were at the top of the Western Division with 3-0 records. Last year Vancouver didn't notch its third victory until midseason. Ilija Mitic's wife's allergy problems necessitated a deal between Dallas and San Jose, the Tornado agreeing to sell the league's alltime leading scorer to the Earthquakes. Mitic's play for San Jose was nothing to sneeze at; he scored both goals in the Earthquakes' 2-1 victory over St. Louis. Elsewhere, Philadelphia shut out Baltimore 1-0, Denver blanked Chicago 2-0, Seattle tripped Portland 1-0, Tampa Bay beat New York 1-0, Hartford did the same against Boston and Washington quelled the San Antonio Thunder 2-0.

ASL: In the second week of competition, Cleveland, with a 2-0 record, was the only undefeated, untied team. The Cobras' 2-1 defeat of Chicago came on goals by Miguel Perrichon and Vito Colonna; Milo Iveljic connected for the Cats. Eight thousand fans turned out for Boston's home opener with the New York Apollos, a 2-2 tie. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati played to a 1-1 standoff in a drizzle in Cincinnati. Rhode Island and Connecticut also tied 1-1, Olivar Acquah of the Oceaneers knotting the game with six minutes left.

TENNIS—The team of BILLIE JEAN KING and TONY TRABERT defeated Margaret Court and Frank Sedgman 6-4, 6-2 to win the $60,000 Mixed Doubles Classic and $20,000 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

TRACK & FIELD—JOHN POWELL of San Jose set a world record in the discus with a throw of 226'8" at the Long Beach (Calif.) Invitational, bettering John Van Reneen's mark of 224'8" recorded earlier this year at Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Undefeated BEN JIPCHO took his 14th and 15th consecutive races, winning the mile in 3:57.6 and the two mile in 8:30.8 at the ITA meet in Durham, N.C.

UCLA won its 35th consecutive dual meet by edging crosstown rival USC 75-70 at Drake Stadium. National outdoor bests for the year were set in the high jump (RORY KOTINEK of UCLA, 7'3¼"), triple jump (WILLIE BANKS of UCLA, 55'1"), 440 (KEN RANDLE of USC, 45.1) and 440-yard relay (GUY ABRAHAMS, MIKE SIMMONS, RANDLE and JAMES GILKES of USC, 39.1).

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: Former Postmaster General and Democratic Party national chairman LAWRENCE O'BRIEN, 57, as commissioner of the NBA, succeeding Walter Kennedy on June 1.

PENALIZED: SETON HALL UNIVERSITY for recruiting and financial aid violations in its basketball program, by the NCAA. The two-year probation prohibits the school from participating in postseason basketball competition after the 1975-76 season and NCAA-sponsored TV broadcasts during the first year.

RETIRED: Quarterback SONNY JURGENSEN, 40, after 18 years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles (1957-63) and Washington Redskins (1964-74). His career passing mark of 32, 224 yards is third on the alltime list behind Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton.

DIED: CHARLES J. SOLOMON, 69, winner of seven national contract bridge titles; of a heart attack; in Philadelphia. Bridge editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1945, Solomon had served as president of the World Bridge Federation during 1964-68.