A roundup of the week May 19-24
PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: Steadily converting skeptics into believers, the Golden State Warriors roared off to a 3-0 lead in their championship series with Washington, which had been a monumental favorite. The Bullets let the Warriors slip by 92-91 in the second game and couldn't stop Rick Barry in the third, bowing 109-101 (page 20).
ABA: Kentucky, en route to its first league title, was sidetracked by Indiana only in the fourth game when the Pacers defeated the Colonels 94-86 at Indianapolis. Pacer George McGinnis broke out of his shooting slump with a 22-point, 21-rebound performance and teammate Billy Keller provided the clutch baskets. The comeback was short-lived, however, as the Colonels withstood a 40-point effort by Billy Knight to take the fifth game 110-105 in Louisville and wrap up the series 4-1. Colonel Center Artis Gilmore, who was named playoff MVP, scored 28 points and grabbed a playoff-record 31 rebounds to the delight of the 16,622 fans in Freedom Hall. The Colonels thus ended seven years of frustration during which they won more regular-season games than any other club but nary a championship.
BRIDGE—The LANCIA touring team, composed of Italian grand masters Benito Garozzo, Giorgio Belladonna and Pietro Forquet, plus film star Omar Sharif, lost its second straight match in the U.S. Early in the week a New York quartet—Alan Sontag, Peter Weichsel, Matt Granovetter and Ron Rubin—jolted the visitors, coming from behind on the last few hands of the 60-board contest. Two days later in Los Angeles, Eddie Kantar, Billy Eisenberg, Richard Katz and Larry Cohen crushed Lancia. The double disaster cost Lancia Motors 10 automobiles valued at $8,000 each, and matches in Chicago and Miami Beach still remain.
HOCKEY—NHL: After 11 straight games without a victory over the past two years, the Buffalo Sabres finally broke the ice, so to speak, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in the third and fourth games of their Stanley Cup championship series to knot the playoffs at 2-2. In a game in which the players were hampered by humidity, heat and fog (page 22), Rene Robert of the Sabres shot a 20-footer past Flyer Goalie Bernie Parent to win the third contest 5-4. A crowd of 15,863 in Buffalo went home happy after Robert's goal zipped between Parent's legs with 1:31 remaining in the first overtime period. "It's almost impossible to score from that angle," Robert said later; he had slanted in from Parent's left and nearly parallel to the net. There was more heat and fog for the fourth game and again it was the Flyers who wilted. Goalie Gerry Desjardins of Buffalo yielded goals to Andre Dupont and Ross Lonsberry that gave Philadelphia the early lead but he blanked the Stanley Cup champions the rest of the way. Jerry Korab, Gilbert Perreault and Jim Lorentz put the Sabres ahead 3-2 by the end of the second period and, when the Flyers removed Parent late in the game, Dan Gare found the open net for the clincher.
HORSE RACING—SARSAR ($5), ridden by Willie Shoemaker, came from third place at the head of the stretch to win the one-mile, $60,600 Withers Stake in 1:34⅘ two lengths ahead of Laramie Trail, at Aqueduct. The only filly of the 13 entrants, Sarsar became the first member of the distaff side to capture the Withers since Biggonet in 1886.
Leading all the way, HULA CHIEF ($4.60), Jim Powell riding, won the $41,200 Jack R. Johnston Memorial Handicap, covering the 6½ furlongs in 1:16[1/5] at Sportsman's Park in Chicago. Bafa finished second, 1½ lengths back.
SOCCER—NASL: League-leading scorer Steven David of Miami picked up a goal in his sixth consecutive game for a league record, against Washington, which the Toros defeated 3-1. The New York Cosmos beat Toronto 2-1, putting them in first place in the Northern Division. Boston shut out defending league titleholder Los Angeles 3-0, Minuteman Steve Melledew scoring twice and assisting on the third goal. Dallas halted a three-game losing streak, in the process stopping Denver's three-game winning streak by beating the Dynamos 3-1. Kyle Rote Jr. of the Tornado had a goal and an assist. San Jose found a way to beat Chicago, which had won three straight, handing the Sting a 3-2 tie-breaker loss. Gordon Hill tallied twice in a losing cause. With this win, the Earthquakes moved into third place in the Western Division, while Los Angeles dropped to fourth. The visiting Israeli national team played exhibitions against Philadelphia and New York and emerged unbeaten, blanking the Atoms 1-0 and tying the Cosmos 1-1.
TENNIS—FRANCE defeated Yugoslavia 3-0 to advance to the semifinal of Group B in the European Zone of Davis Cup competition. The French clinched the victory when the doubles team of Patrice Dominguez and Fran√ßois Jauffrey beat Nikki Pilic and Zeljko Franulovic 9-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
TRACK & FIELD—Israeli-born BORIS DOV DJERASSI of Northeastern University recorded the longest U.S. hammer throw this year with a 222'6" toss during the 99th IC4-A meet at Williamsburg, Va. His previous best was 215'8". EAMONN COGHLAN of Villanova ran at an easy pace during the first three-quarters of the mile, then turned in a 55.4 for the final 440, to win in 3:59.3 at the same meet. A little more than an hour later. Coghlan bounced back to win the three-mile in 13:38.8.
MILEPOSTS—FILED: By GEORGE McGINNIS of the ABA Indiana Pacers, a suit in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against the Philadelphia 76ers, who own his NBA draft rights. The high-scoring, 6'8" forward is interested in signing with the New York Knicks.
LIQUIDATED: MASERATI Spa of Modena, Italy, builder of Formula I racing cars as well as high-performance luxury vehicles, after several years of steady decline. The company was started in 1926 by three Maserati brothers but had its greatest racing successes following its purchase in 1938 by the Orsi industrial combine. Maseratis driven by Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939-40, and Juan Manuel Fangio won his fifth World Driver's Championship in a Maserati in 1957. The company phased out its racing activities in the mid-'60s.
RESIGNED: BOB MacKINNON, 47, as head coach of the ABA Spirits of St. Louis, after one season and a third-place finish in the Eastern Division with a 32-52 record. He has accepted the post of director of player personnel with the NBA Buffalo Braves, for whom he had been an assistant for two seasons.
TRADED: Phoenix Sun Guard CHARLIE SCOTT to the Boston Celtics for reserve Guard PAUL WESTPHAL and 1975 and 1976 second-round draft picks. The Suns' top scorer, Scott averaged 24.3 points per game this season.
VOTED: The withdrawal of recognition of Rhodesia and its exclusion from the 1976 Olympics, by the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 41-26 vote culminated a long campaign by black Africans against the racial segregation policies of Rhodesia.
DIED: Professional track competitor and former football player PAUL GIBSON, 26, from injuries resulting from an auto accident; in El Paso, Texas. Winner of the 1970 NCAA high hurdles title while at UTEP, Gibson played one game as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers before signing with ITA last year.
DIED: ROBERT MOSES (LEFTY) GROVE, 75, brilliant pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics (1925-33) and Boston Red Sox (1934-41) and a Hall of Famer; of an apparent heart attack; in Norwalk, Ohio. Grove, whose lifetime won-lost record was 300-141, led the American League in victories four times, won-lost percentage five times, strikeouts seven times and ERA nine times. The fiery Grove was most proud of the time he struck out Gehrig, Ruth and Bob Meusel on nine pitches in a game in which the Yankees had the tying run on third in the last of the ninth.
