A roundup of the week Feb. 21-27
PRO BASKETBALL—The Philadelphia 76ers, despite their league-and Atlantic Division-leading 49-7 record, continued playing against lesser teams with a vengeance. In a 133-101 rout of Dallas, Philly thundered to a 73-44 halftime lead and was ahead at one point by 35. It was the 20th time this season that the 76ers had run up a double-digit lead in the first quarter and extended it in the next two. In a 116-111 win over Chicago two nights later, the Sixers uncharacteristically lacked the killer instinct, perhaps because they played most of the game without Julius Erving. Late in the second quarter Chicago's Mark Olberding poked Dr. J in the right eye, scratching his cornea. That ended his string of 321 straight games of double-figure scoring. He played in Sunday's 115-104 victory over Golden State wearing protective goggles and scored 18 points. Speaking of spectacles, the Lakers made one of themselves in a 113-104 home-court loss to Boston. Larry Bird turned the game around in the third quarter with consecutive three-pointers; conversely, the Lakers, who are best in the Pacific Division, are worst in the NBA in three-point shooting, having missed both tries against the Celtics and their last 36 in a row. L.A. has now lost all four games it's played against Boston and Philadelphia. In a meeting of Central (Milwaukee) and Midwest (San Antonio) leaders, the Bucks won 107-104. Milwaukee's two injured centers of attention, Dave Cowens and Bob Lanier, both saw their comebacks further delayed by discouraging medical reports.
BOBSLEDDING—EKKEHARD FASSER drove a Swiss four-man sled to the world title, beating a West German sled driven by Andreas Weikenstorfer by .56 of a second over four runs down the 1,557-meter course in Lake Placid, N.Y.
BOWLING—EARL ANTHONY defeated Mai Acosta 224-220 to win a $150,000 PBA tournament in Peoria, Ill.
BOXING—JIRO WATANABE successfully defended his WBA junior bantamweight title with an eighth-round knockout of Luis Ibanez in Tsu, Japan.
GOLF—JAN STEPHENSON shot a nine-under-par 207 to win the $150,000 Tucson Conquistadores Open. She beat Amy Alcott by five strokes.
HOCKEY—The Sutters and the Sabres gave the division leaders fits. Brian Sutter of St. Louis scored two goals and added a couple of assists in a 5-5 tie with Edmonton, tops in the Smythe. Brother Brent of the New York Islanders stole a puck from a Chicago defenseman and popped home a 15-footer to forge a 4-4 draw with the Norris pacesetters. In Buffalo, the Sabres, trailing 6-1 at 4:44 of the second, came back that period with four goals against Adams-leading Boston and went on to win 7-6. Two nights earlier, Buffalo grounded Philadelphia, No. 1 in the Patrick, 4-2 (page 28).
HORSE RACING—MARIMBULA ($26), Sandy Hawley up, defeated Avigaition by a neck to win the $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old mare covered the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:48.2.
Christmas Past ($4.60), ridden by Jorge Velasquez, won the $186,050 Gulfstream Park Handicap by a neck over Crafty Prospector. The 3-year-old filly ran the 1¼ miles in 2:02.6.
INDOOR SOCCER—MISL: It's a Zungul out there. That's what players from the East were saying at the league's annual All-Star game in Kansas City. Forward Steve Zungul had represented the New York Arrows of the East in all three previous All-Star games, but a Jan. 25 trade to Golden State switched his allegiances. Zungul rapped in two goals, and Kim Roentved of Wichita scored the game winner on a 30-footer at 6:18 of overtime to give the West a 6-5 win. Stan Stamenkovich of Memphis accounted for four of the East's goals and was named MVP.
SPEED SKATING—AKIRA KUROIWA of Japan won the men's title and KARIN ENKE of East Germany the women's at the World Sprint Championships in Helsinki.
SWIMMING—VLADIMIR SALNIKOV swam a 14:54.76 1,500-meter freestyle in Moscow to lower his own world record by 1.59 seconds.
TENNIS—JOSÉ HIGUERAS beat Eliot Teltscher, 6-4, 6-2, to win a $255,000 Grand Prix tournament in La Quinta, Calif.
TRACK & FIELD—EAMONN COGHLAN knocked .82 off his own world record in the indoor mile with a clocking of 3:49.78, and DIANE DIXON ran the 400 meters in 53.17, .14 under Gwen Gardner's 1980 U.S. women's indoor record, in East Rutherford, N.J. (page 24).
Four world indoor records fell at the national indoor championships in New York: DIXON ran 440 yards in 53.52, surpassing Rosalyn Bryant's 1980 mark; STEPHANIE HIGHTOWER improved the women's 60 high-hurdles record she had shared with Candy Young by .01 to 7.37; RAY SHARP trimmed nearly seven seconds off Jim Herring's year-old standard in the men's two-mile walk with a time of 12:13.33; and BILL COLLINS, MIKE PAUL, FRED TAYLOR and TONY DARDEN established a record of 2:00.25 in the 1,180-yard sprint medley relay, .75 of a second better than the old mark, set in 1980 by another team of Americans. CAROL LEWIS leaped 21'5¼" to set an American women's indoor long-jump record, eclipsing Martha Watson's 1973 mark by a half inch.
YACHTING—MONROE WINGATE and CHRIS CORLETT of San Francisco sailed their 42-foot Peterson-designed Scarlett O'Hara to overall fleet victory in the six-race, 88-boat Southern Ocean Racing Conference, coming from behind to beat Locura in the last race in Nassau.
MILEPOSTS—AWARDED: By the AAU, the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the U.S. for 1982, MARY DECKER TABB, 24, who set seven world records (four indoor and three outdoor) and 10 American records (four indoor and six outdoor) in distances ranging from one mile to 10,000 meters.
FIRED: DON POPOVIC, 42, the only coach the four-time MISL-champion New York Arrows ever had. He was replaced by JOE MACHNIK, 40, MISL referee-in-chief. Popovic then took over for ROGER THOMPSON, 42, who was fired as coach of the Golden Bay Earthquakes.
SIGNED: By the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, to a three-year, $3.9 million contract, Heisman Trophy winner HERSCHEL WALKER (page 40). By the USFL Michigan Panthers, three-time All-America Wide Receiver ANTHONY CARTER of Michigan to a reported $2.4 million, four-year deal.
