A roundup of the week Jan. 5-11
PRO BASKETBALL—Philadelphia (38-7) and Boston (34-9) remained atop the Atlantic Division (and the league) as neither team lost a game. The 76ers defeated San Antonio 135-102 to snap the Spurs' five-game winning streak, and then beat Houston 107-94 and Chicago 117-102. Larry Bird got 110 points as the Celtics dispatched Portland 120-111, Phoenix 108-90, Chicago 117-111 in overtime and New Jersey 117-115. That was the Nets' 12th loss in a row. Their 11th was a 112-95 defeat by the Suns (35-10), who maintained their 6½-game lead in the Pacific Division despite a 113-106 loss to Atlanta and the setback in Boston. New Jersey's ninth loss was to Central Division-leading Milwaukee 102-86, which also beat San Diego 128-95 and Atlanta 98-95 before falling to Indiana 106-102 (page 94). In the Midwest, San Antonio (30-15) stayed nine games ahead of Kansas City with a 113-108 victory over New York and a 102-86 triumph over Portland, in which James Silas had 15 points in one 6½-minute fourth-quarter stretch. In two Utah victories, 121-117 over Denver and 99-97 over Dallas, Adrian Dantley scored a career-high 51 and 40 points, respectively. His 31.7 point average at week's end led the NBA.
BOWLING—STEVE MARTIN defeated Marshall Holman 216-185 to win a $125,000 tournament in Anaheim, Calif.
CHESS—Behind 4½ to 3½, Robert Hubner of West Germany withdrew from his candidates match with VIKTOR KORCHNOI in Merano, Italy. Korchnoi, the Soviet èmigrè who now lives in Switzerland, will meet champion Anatoly Karpov of the U.S.S.R. for the world title later this year.
PRO FOOTBALL—In the NFC Championship game, Philadelphia defeated Dallas 20-7, while Oakland beat San Diego 34-27 in the AFC (page 16).
GOLF—JOHNNY MILLER shot a 15-under-par 265 to win the $300,000 Tucson Open by two strokes over Lon Hinkle (page 103).
HOCKEY—With 10 of the week's 33 NHL games ending in ties, it was hardly surprising that only 13th-place Chicago and 10th-place Boston had perfect records. The Black Hawks defeated Pittsburgh 3-2, Colorado 6-2 and the Penguins again, 5-3. The Bruins triumphed at Winnipeg 4-1, over Detroit 7-4 and the Islanders 3-2, with Ray Bourque scoring the game-winner at 4:23 of the third period. The Islanders, who were tops in the league with 60 points at week's end, almost got a 3-3 draw in that game, but came up one second short as a 50-foot slap shot toward an open goal by Mike Bossy (page 36) arrived just after the green light flashed. The Isles' week began better than it ended, with a 6-3 victory over Toronto, in which Bossy had six assists and Left Wing John Tonelli had five goals. They then lost 7-3 to Pittsburgh as the Penguins made 50 shots on goal to New York's 15. "What does a coach tell a team after a stinkeroo like this?" said Islander Coach Al Arbour. "If I have to tell them anything, they can't be very intelligent. They know what they did wrong." St. Louis, in second place with 59 points, defeated Quebec 6-3 and drew with Philadelphia 5-5 and Los Angeles 6-6. The Flyers and Kings were tied for third place in the standings with 57 points. Fifth-place Montreal ran its unbeaten streak to nine with wins over Detroit (6-2) and Pittsburgh (4-2) and a 5-5 tie with Quebec. The week's good conduct award went to eighth-place Vancouver and sixth-place Minnesota, who elicited only five minor penalties while skating to a 1-1 standoff.
MARATHON—BILL RODGERS won the Houston Marathon in 2:12:19, defeating Dick Beardsley by 30 seconds. Patti Lyons Catalano was first among the women in 2:35:27, four seconds ahead of Laurie Binder.
MOTOR SPORTS—BOBBY ALLISON, driving a Chevrolet at an average speed of 95.296 mph, won the Western 500-km. race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. He finished 1.73 seconds ahead of Terry Labonte, who also drove a Chevy.
TENNIS—JOHN McENROE defeated Jimmy Connors 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 to win the $350,000 Challenge of Champions tournament in Chicago.
Peter McNamara and Paul McNamee defeated Victor Amaya and Hank Pfister 6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the $200,000 World Doubles championship in London.
MILEPOSTS—APPROVED: By the Chicago White Sox Board of Directors, the sale of the franchise for $20 million to a local group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf, a real estate investor, and Eddie Einhorn, a television executive. The group, which must still receive league approval, could take control of the Sox by Feb. 1.
FIRED: As coach of the Washington Redskins, two-time NFC Coach of the Year JACK PARDEE, 44, after a 6-10 season.
HIRED: As football coach at Boston College, JACK BICKNELL, 42, who resigned as coach at Maine after a 4-7 season. His record over five years was 18-35-1.
To succeed Pat Dye as football coach at Wyoming, former offensive coordinator AL KINCAID, 33, who was an assistant at Alabama and East Carolina before accompanying Dye to Wyoming last year.
As coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, MIKE NYKOLUK, 46, a former assistant with the Rangers and Flyers and this season the Leafs' radio commentator. He replaces Joe Crozier, 51, who one day before had been fired after a slump in which Toronto lost nine of 10 games. His record with the Leafs was 18-25-6.
KILLED: In a barn fire at Castleton Farm in Lexington, Ky., 14 standardbred broodmares, all with foals, including HAPPY LADY, winner of more than $500,000. who was in foal to Bret Hanover.
NAMED: By the AIAW as the outstanding women's college athlete of 1980, JULIE SHEA, 22, of North Carolina State, national champion in the 3,000-, 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs.
PLACED ON PROBATION: For one year by the NCAA, the Oregon State football program, because of violations of the player eligibility rules committed between 1977 and '80.
RETIRED: After 17½ seasons in the NHL, New York Rangers Center PHIL ESPOSITO, 38, to become an assistant coach and part-time administrator. Before he was traded to New York in 1975, Esposito played for Chicago (1963-67) and Boston (1967-75), where he was an All-Star six times, league MVP twice and played on two Stanley Cup-winning teams. In 1970-71 he set the record for the most goals (76) and points (152) in a season. He retires as the second-leading point producer (1,589) and goal scorer (717) in NHL history.
