A roundup of the week April 2-8

PRO BASKETBALL—While Boston assured itself of having the best record for the season with defeats of Cleveland (98-86 and 113-94) and Chicago (117-110), at the other end of the Atlantic Division standings Washington clinched the last Eastern Conference playoff berth with a 106-94 victory over Indiana in which Jeff Ruland had 18 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists. The Bullets were battling it out for the No. 7 spot with the Atlanta Hawks, whose two wins on the week included a 122-103 beating of the Pacers. In that game Dominique Wilkins scored 39 points, 29 of them in the first half. In the Western Conference, Dallas snapped a five-game losing streak, clinched a playoff berth and beat both San Antonio (131-118) and Midwest Division leader Utah (109-100). Milwaukee reassumed the Central Division top spot with a 110-92 defeat of No. 2 Detroit, and Los Angeles, whose Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had earlier become the NBA's leading career scorer (page 24), clinched the Pacific Division title with a 119-113 win over runner-up Portland.

BOWLING—ERNIE SCHLEGEL defeated Mike Durbin 237-214 to win the $115,000 Long Island Open in Garden City, N.Y.

BOXING—RICHIE SANDOVAL won the WBA bantamweight title with a 15th-round TKO of defending champion Jeff Chandler in Atlantic City.

PRO FOOTBALL—USFL: San Antonio battled Chicago into overtime, but as soon as OT began, Blitz quarterback Vince Evans marched his team 63 yards in eight plays. An eight-yard TD pass to wide receiver Kris Haines clinched Chicago's 16-10 victory. The Gunslingers, now 1-6, have lost four games by seven or fewer points. Southern Division co-leader Birmingham had a perfect week, beating New Orleans 31-17 on Monday night and Jacksonville 24-17 on Saturday. Stallion running back Joe Cribbs galloped for 296 yards in the two games. The Breakers went on to regain a share of the Southern lead by defeating Pittsburgh 27-24 on a 41-yard field goal by Tim Mazzetti with 12 seconds to play, while Oklahoma edged Central Division front-runner Michigan 20-17 on a 32-yarder at the gun by Efren Herrera. Atlantic Division co-leader Philadelphia came back from 15 points down at the half to beat Arizona 22-21 on an 11-yard scoring pass from Chuck Fusina to Willie Collier with 1:40 remaining. A crowd of 58,777 in Tampa Bay watched the Bandits plunder Oakland 24-0 Saturday night, and the following day 43,671 in Giants Stadium saw Brian Sipe of the Atlantic's other pacesetter, the Generals, throw for three TDs in a 35-10 triumph over Memphis. Denver, No. 1 in the Pacific Division, was idle.

GOLF—ANDY BEAN beat George Archer by two strokes to win the $400,000 Greater Greensboro (N.C.) Open. He shot an eight-under-par 280.

Juli Inkster defeated Pat Bradley on the first hole of a playoff to win the $400,000 Dinah Shore Invitational in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The two finished regulation play with eight-under-par 280s (page 8).

HOCKEY—During the regular season Montreal goalie Steve Penney, a rookie, had four starts and lost them all. But coach Jacques Lemaire took a chance and started Penney in the first-round playoffs against Boston. The result: a Canadien sweep, by scores of 2-1, 3-1 and 5-0, as Penney turned aside 29, 26 and 19 shots. Montreal's next series is with Quebec, which upset Buffalo 3-2, 6-2 and 4-1. Washington had Philadelphia on the ropes, leading 2-0 in games and 1-0 in the first period Saturday night, so several Flyers responded like the Broad Street Bullies of old. Defenseman Darryl Stanley hit Washington forward Mike Gartner, and the Sutter twins, Rich and Ron, dropped their gloves and went after the Caps' Bobby Carpenter and Darren Veitch, respectively. All three aggressors, along with Carpenter and Veitch, were ejected, and Washington won 5-1 to clinch the series. The Islanders' 4-1 victory in Game 1 of their Expressway Series with the Rangers got the Isles off to a hot start in their pursuit of a fifth consecutive Stanley Cup. But hotter still was Ranger goaltender Glen Hanlon, who had 45 saves in the Rangers' 3-0 shutout in Game 2 and 26 more in a 7-2 victory on Saturday. The Islanders bounced back Sunday winning 4-1 to set up a deciding fifth game on Tuesday. In the Norris Division, Chicago defeated Minnesota 3-1 in their series opener for only its sixth road victory all season. The North Stars took the next two games, 6-5, 4-1, but the Black Hawks evened the series with a 4-3 win Sunday night. In a game lasting four hours and eight minutes, St. Louis defeated Detroit 4-3 to go ahead two games to one. The Blues took the series the next night with a 3-2 victory. Edmonton buried Winnipeg 9-2, 5-4 and 4-1 to set up a Smythe Division final series with Calgary, which took three of four games from Vancouver.

HORSE RACING—MIGHTY ADVERSARY ($66.20), ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, won the $302,200 Santa Anita Derby by 1¼ lengths over Precisionist. The 3-year-old colt ran the 1‚⅛ miles at Santa Anita racetrack in 1:49 flat.

Bear Hunt ($10.40), Donald MacBeth up, won the $182,400 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct racecourse. The 3-year-old colt covered the one mile and 70 yards in 1:40[2/5] and beat Lt. Flag by 4¾ lengths.

Sam Maple rode DEW LINE ($24.20) to a one-length victory over Passing Base in the $174,200 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park. The 5-year-old ran the 1[1/16]miles in 1:41[3/5].

MOTOR SPORTS—NIKI LAUDA drove his McLaren-Porsche to victory in the South African Grand Prix, averaging 128.38 mph over 75 laps on the 2.55-mile Kyalami course. He defeated Alain Prost, also in a McLaren-Porsche, by 1:08.

Tim Richmond averaged 97.837 mph in his Pontiac to win a $227,290, 250-mile NASCAR race on the five-eighths mile North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway oval. He finished less than a second ahead of Harry Gant, who drove a Chevy.

INDOOR SOCCER—MISL: Eastern Division leader Baltimore won twice, beating Cleveland (5-3) and Buffalo (6-4). In the West, St. Louis held on to a 1½ game margin by defeating Tacoma 7-6 in overtime and Memphis 6-5.

NASL: In the championship playoff series, San Diego took a two-game lead over the Cosmos. The Sockers won Game 1 by a 5-2 score, as Jean Will-rich and Kaz Deyna scored twice, and then triumphed 10-4 as Hugo Perez had a hat trick.

TENNIS—HANA MANDLIKOVA defeated Helena Sukova 7-5, 6-0 to win a $150,000 indoor tournament in Boston.

Mark Dickson defeated Sammy Giammalva 6-3, 6-2 to win the $250,000 River Oaks tournament in Houston.

MILEPOSTS—FIRED: As coach of the Los Angeles Kings, ROGER NEILSON, 49, who guided the team to an 8-17-3 record after replacing Don Perry on Jan. 30; and as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, MIKE NYKOLUK, 49, who had a 3½-year record of 89-144-47.

HIRED: As coach of the revived basketball program at the University of San Francisco, JIM BROVELLI, 42, who had a record of 160-130 in 11 years at the University of San Diego; as basketball coach at Clemson, CLIFF ELLIS, 38, who had a nine-year record of 171-84 at South Alabama; and as basketball coach at Lafayette College, BUTCH VAN BREDA KOLFF, 61 (SI, Feb. 20).

REINSTATED: As of May 15, by an arbitrator, outfielders WILLIE WILSON of the Kansas City Royals and JERRY MARTIN of the New York Mets, who had received one-year suspensions from baseball last Dec. 15 after being convicted of attempting to possess cocaine.