A roundup of the week Jan. 19-25
PRO BASKETBALL—Home teams in the NBA were victorious in 33 of 44 games. Boston entertained four guests and defeated them all. In a 98-96 win over Los Angeles, Guard Chris Ford put the Celtics ahead 97-94 with a three-pointer with 58 seconds to play. Against Detroit in Hartford, said Boston Coach Bill Fitch, "It was like four different ball clubs out there—two Detroit teams and two Boston teams." The Celtics built a 21-point lead in the first half, but the Pistons rallied to within two points, 92-90, before Guard Larry Drew stepped out of bounds with the ball to kill their chances with two seconds left. Boston then ripped Utah 117-87, holding Adrian Dantley, who leads the league in scoring with 31.7 points per game, to 17 and rookie Darrell Griffith to one basket. Against Indiana, Larry Bird made the score 104-100 on a jumper with 56 seconds to play, which was matched 12 seconds later by the Pacers' James Edwards. Indiana's Dudley Bradley then had a chance to tie the game after having been fouled by Bird, but he hit only one of three free-throw attempts, handing Boston its 11th triumph in a row. At week's end the Celtics were a game behind Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division. After a 113-92 victory over Seattle (page 66), the 76ers lost to Detroit 83-75—that was the Pistons' first win in 10 games—before beating Indiana 118-104 and Washington 128-116. Going into that loss, the Bullets had won five in a row. Phoenix, with the league's third-best record and a six-game lead over L.A. in the Pacific Division, dispatched Atlanta 120-86 and then lost to San Antonio 119-112 in overtime. The score was tied 19 times and the lead changed hands on 24 occasions; the Spurs' Mark Oberding pumped in seven points in the fourth quarter and seven more in overtime. The Suns then sustained another close loss, 106-100 at Houston, in which Rocket Guard Allen Leavell sank two baskets and two free throws in the final minute of play. Phoenix ended the week with a 131-122 triumph over Milwaukee. The Bucks, who also had victories over San Diego (121-117), Portland (110-103) and Golden State (105-98), were 8½ games ahead of second-place Indiana in the Central Division. After its victory over Phoenix, San Antonio, which leads the Midwest Division, lost twice, falling to Kansas City 115-108 as Phil Ford scored 32 points and Denver 129-115 when Dan Issel got 32 points and grabbed an NBA career-high 21 rebounds. With a 113-107 triumph over Houston in which Ford scored 38 points, the Kings took over second place from the Rockets, nine games behind San Antonio.
BOWLING—BOB HANDLEY defeated Jay Robinson 202-200 to win the $95,000 Alameda (Calif.) Open.
BOXING—CHUL-HO KIM won the WBC superflyweight title with a ninth-round knockout of defending champion Rafael Orono in San Cristobal, Venezuela.
PRO FOOTBALL—OAKLAND defeated Philadelphia 27-10 in Super Bowl XV in New Orleans (page 18).
GOLF—DAVID GRAHAM shot a 16-under-par 268 to win the $300,000 Phoenix Open by one stroke over Lon Hinkle.
HARNESS RACING—IDEAL DU GAZEAU, driven by Eugene Lefevre, won the $326,000 Prix d'Amèrique at Vincennes, France by a length over Jorky. The American champion mare Classical Way placed third, two lengths off the lead. Ideal du Gazeau, a 5-year-old mare, trotted the 1‚Äö√Ñ√∂‚àö√±‚àöœÄ miles in 3:21 [1/5].
HOCKEY—While the Islanders' Mike Bossy and Los Angeles' Charlie Simmer were shooting to match Maurice (Rocket) Richard's 35-year-old feat of 50 goals in the first 50 games (page 64), the Islanders and the Kings held on to first and third places in the NHL standings with 72 and 65 points, respectively. St. Louis was second with 66 points. The Blues rallied for a 6-6 tie with Hartford on goals by wings Brian Sutter and Wayne Babych in the final two minutes. They then lost at Boston 7-3 and beat Chicago 4-2. Before that defeat the Black Hawks, in 11th place with 46 points, had won eight in a row, equaling the team record set in 1971-72. Philadelphia, in fourth with 63, began the week with a 7-2 triumph in a rugged game with L.A. during which 40 minutes of fighting among five Kings and four Flyers resulted in 227 minutes of penalties. "I'm glad they played cheap-shot hockey tonight," said Flyer Coach Pat Quinn. "They got our guys hitting, and that's our best game." Philadelphia subsequently beat Pittsburgh 5-0, Goalie Pete Peeters getting his second shutout of the season, and Minnesota 5-4, with rookie Tim Kerr scoring the game-winner. The Flyers ended the week with a 6-3 loss at Montreal in which Canadien Right Winger Mario Tremblay scored the first three-goal game of his career. Montreal, with 59 points, was tied for fifth with Minnesota and Buffalo, both of whom had three wins and a loss. The North Stars defeated the Canadiens 6-3 and Washington 2-1 before their 5-4 loss to Philly and a 6-1 victory Over Edmonton. The Sabres beat the Rangers 4-0—it was Goaltender Don Edwards' first shutout of the season—and lost 5-1 at Boston before defeating Quebec 6-5, on a Ric Seiling goal with 45 seconds remaining, and defeating Washington 7-4. Rallying under new Coach Mike Nykoluk, Toronto had a 5-4 triumph at Winnipeg, in which centers Bill Derlago and Darryl Sittler scored twice each, two ties (2-2 at Vancouver and 3-3 at Los Angeles) and a 7-4 victory over Hartford during which Sittler had four goals. That was the fourth time this season that he has scored three goals or more. The Leafs, 17-23-8 for the season, were 4-1-3 under Nykoluk at week's end.
TENNIS—MARTINA NAVRATILOVA defeated Sylvia Hanika 6-2, 6-4 to win a $150,000 tournament in Cincinnati.
TRACK & FIELD—EVELYN ASHFORD of Los Angeles established an American indoor women's record in the 60-yard dash with a clocking of 6.65 at the Albuquerque Invitational. The old mark of 6.68 was set by Chandra Cheeseborough in 1979.
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As football coach and athletic director at North Texas State, BOB TYLER, 48, who guided Mississippi State to a 39-25-3 record from 1973 to 1978.
SIGNED: To a five-year, $750,000 contract as coach of the New Orleans Saints, BUM PHILLIPS, 57, whose record in six seasons with the Houston Oilers was 55-35.
TRADED: By the Cincinnati Reds, Centerfielder CESAR GERONIMO, 32, to the Kansas City Royals for a minor league infielder.
TRADED: By the Boston Red Sox, Outfielder FRED LYNN, 28, and righthanded Pitcher STEVE RENKO, 36, to the California Angels for Outfielder JOE RUDI, 34, and pitchers FRANK TANANA, 27, a lefty, and JIM DORSEY, 25, a righty.
DIED: JOE KUHARICH, 63, football coach for the University of San Francisco (1948-52), the Chicago Cardinals (1952), the Washington Redskins (1954-58), Notre Dame (1959-62) and the Philadelphia Eagles (1964-68); of a heart attack; in Philadelphia. His college record was 43-37; he was 58-81-3 in the NFL.
