A roundup of the week April 19-25

PRO BASKETBALL—All four favorites—Washington, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Seattle—triumphed in the NBA's best-of-three mini-series and advanced to the conference semifinals. Led by a defense that limited New Jersey to 42.5% shooting, Washington made short work of the Nets 96-83 and 103-92. After Darryl Dawkins played the best game of his injury-plagued season, getting 27 points and nine rebounds in Philadelphia's 111-76 victory over Atlanta at home, the 76ers completed their sweep of the Hawks with a 98-95 OT triumph in Atlanta. Dennis Johnson scored only 14 points as Phoenix lost Game 1 to Denver 129-113 but then pumped in 29 and 26 in Games 2 and 3, respectively, as the Suns won 126-110 and 124-119. It was only the fourth time in 28 mini-series that a Game 1 loser recovered to advance in the playoffs. Seattle struggled a bit, too, before eliminating Houston (page 18). As the semis began on Sunday, the 76ers beat Milwaukee 125-122 and Boston defeated the Bullets 109-91.

BOWLING—MIKE DURBIN beat Steve Cook 233-203 to win the PBA's $200,000 Tournament of Champions in Akron.

FENCING—In the North American Cup series at Washington and New York, PETER WEST-BROOK won the saber title, LEE SHELLEY the épée and GREG MASSIALAS the foil. Among the women, JANA ANGELAKIS won the foil championship. All the winners are from the U.S.

GOLF—PATTY SHEEHAN sank a 2½-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat Kathy Postlewait in the $150,000 Lady Classic at Orlando, Fla. The pair finished the regulation 54 holes with 7-under-par 209s.

HOCKEY—The Soviet Union beat Canada 6-4 to win its 18th world hockey championship in Helsinki.

NHL: The Vancouver Canucks, who had never won a playoff series before this year, made it two for two in '82. They were the first team to advance through the NHL's best-of-seven conference semifinals by eliminating Los Angeles in five games. Up two games to one as the week began, Vancouver beat the Kings 5-4 as Ivan Boldirev scored a pair of goals and hot Goaltender Richard Brodeur shut down L.A. when the game was on the line. "Brodeur's making the difference," said King star Marcel Dionne. Brodeur continued to make the difference—not to mention 30 saves—in the 5-2 win that wrapped up the series. Chicago wiped out St. Louis in six games. Denis Savard had a hat trick as the Black Hawks won Game 4, 7-4, and then he scored the first goal in a series-clinching 2-0 victory. Meanwhile, the Islanders, who haven't lost a playoff series since 1979, took a 3-1 lead in games against the Rangers in a 5-3 triumph in which Billy Smith (page 70) made 25 saves, half of them larcenous. Then, after a 4-2 Ranger win, the Isles put their intra-metropolis rivals away with a 5-3 victory that featured at least six point-blank saves by Smith and Dave Langevin's 60-foot game-winning blast. The Boston-Quebec series came down to a seventh game after the Bruins survived 6-5 in Game 6 at Quebec on an overtime goal by Peter McNab. But Sunday at Boston, Dave Pichette's third-period goal gave Quebec a 2-1 win.

HORSE RACING—LINKAGE ($3.80), ridden by Bill Shoemaker, won the $195,825 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course by 5½ lengths over Gato del Sol. The 3-year-old colt ran the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:48.

MOTOR SPORTS—DIDIER PIRONI, averaging 116.9 mph over 60 laps of a 3.13-mile circuit, drove a Ferrari to victory in the San Marino Grand Prix by 0.3 over Gilles Villeneuve also in a Ferrari. Only 12 cars entered the race, nine manufacturers having withdrawn in a dispute with the FISA over sudden rule changes regarding the minimum weight of cars.

SOCCER—Surprising Toronto raised its NASL record to 4-0 and swept past the Cosmos into first place in the Eastern Division by edging Edmonton 1-0 and Tampa Bay 2-1. The Blizzard, whose 7-25 record last year was the second-worst in the league, have eight new starters, including Forward David Byrne, who booted the game-winning score in overtime at Tampa Bay. The Cosmos got two goals from Giorgio Chinaglia in a 3-1 triumph over Chicago, which is surprising, too. The loss left the Sting, the 1981 Soccer Bowl champ, with an 0-3 record. At Fort Lauderdale 11,908 fans braved a tornado warning and nine inches of rain to watch the Southern Division-leading Strikers face Montreal. Their reward was a goal by Bob Bolitho at 34:54 and a 1-0 Striker victory. Jacksonville's Ricardo Alonso took over the league lead in goal-scoring with a pair against Tulsa, but they weren't enough as the Roughnecks won 3-2 on Laurie Abrahams' two goals and an assist. San Diego, which hadn't given up a goal in its first three wins, stretched its Western Division lead to 13 points by beating Seattle 4-3. Julie Veee (page 42) got the game-winner in a shootout. In another nail-biter, second-place Vancouver beat Portland 2-1.

INDOOR SOCCER—On the final day of the MISL regular season, Denver clinched the league's eighth and final playoff spot with a 6-3 victory over Phoenix. Forwards Pat Howley and Rich Wurdack came off the bench to score a goal each for the Avalanche, which this week is meeting Western Division champion St. Louis in a best-of-three playoff quarterfinal. Despite a 6-5 loss to Wichita, St. Louis Goalkeeper Slobo Ilijevski finished the season with a goals-against average of 3.85, an MISL record. Meanwhile, the Eastern Division champion New York Arrows drew 4,547 fans in their season finale, a 5-4 loss in overtime to Pittsburgh. That crowd helped lift 1981-82 league attendance to 2.4 million, highest in the MISL's four-year history.

TENNIS—By default JIMMY CONNORS won a $370,000 tournament at Las Vegas (page 26).

Chris Evert Lloyd beat Andrea Jaeger 6-3, 6-1 in a $250,000 tournament at Amelia Island, Fla.

MILEPOSTS—HIRED: As basketball coach at Wisconsin, STEVE YODER, 42, who had a 77-62 record in five seasons at Ball State.

PLACED ON PROBATION: By the NCAA, the University of Southern California football program, which violated a variety of rules from 1971 to '79. The Trojans will be ineligible for bowl games during the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons and are banned from television in '83 or '84.

SIGNED: To a five-year contract, worth a reported $3.5 million, by the Cleveland Browns, TOM COUSINEAU, who was drafted No. 1 in 1979 by Buffalo but elected to play in Canada. The Bills traded their rights to Cousineau to Cleveland for several draft picks, including a No. 1 selection in 1983.