A roundup of the week May 20-26

PRO BASKETBALL—What more could a basketball fan want? East meets West; fast break against impenetrable defense; Magic versus Bird. The NBA's top two regular-season teams have survived the playoffs to reach the finals, Los Angeles for the fourth consecutive time and Boston for the third time in five years. "It's the stars versus the longshoremen," said the Celtics' Kevin McHale. "We have probably one guy who can dunk on our whole team. They've got a whole team who goes in there and flies through the air. We just grind it out." Each team wrapped up its semifinal series in five games. The Celtics edged Philadelphia 102-100 when Larry Bird stole the ball from Sixer Andrew Toney in the game's final five seconds. The Lakers blasted Denver 153-109. Nugget Alex English, the NBA's No. 5 scorer, who averaged 30.3 ppg against Los Angeles, missed the final game with a broken right thumb. And what about the upcoming rematch of last year's final? "The first of June seems to be the time we like to play basketball," said Laker coach Pat Riley. "I'm not scared," retorted Celtic forward Cedric Maxwell, "just more concerned than usual."

PRO FOOTBALL—The Memphis Showboats had defeated, in succession, Denver, Birmingham, Houston and Tampa Bay, each of which was playing at least .666. Next on the schedule was hapless Portland, a team tied for the worst record in the league. "I hope we can keep this kind of consistency against Portland," said Showboat coach Pepper Rodgers, "because this is the kind of team that scares me to death." Rodgers's worst fears were realized when the Breakers upset Memphis 17-14. The Showboats dominated the game offensively, but turnovers, including a USFL record-tying six interceptions, won it for the Breakers. Jacksonville quarterback Brian Sipe had missed the last 12 games with a separated shoulder but returned this week and quickly won two games for the Bulls. On Monday night Jacksonville was trailing Houston 17-3 at halftime before Sipe threw two third-quarter touchdown passes to rally the Bulls to a 20-17 win. Mike Rozier gave Sipe ground support by rushing for 86 yards and topping 1,000 yards in a season for the first time in his pro career. Jacksonville also defeated Los Angeles 21-7 as Sipe ran for one touchdown and passed for two more. In the West, Oakland won its sixth straight game and extended its conference lead over Denver to 1½ games by stopping the Gold 31-16. Oakland quarterback Bobby Hebert passed for 337 yards and four TDs. "We're fighting for our lives," said Jim Mora, coach of defending champion Baltimore. The Stars are struggling to make the playoffs, and their six defeats equal their total losses for the previous two seasons. They kept their hopes alive as quarterback Chuck Fusina passed for three touchdowns in a 28-10 victory over San Antonio. In other games, Houston beat Arizona 41-20, and New Jersey edged Tampa Bay 30-24 in overtime.

GOLF—HALE IRWIN shot a seven-under-par 281 to win the $500,000 Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Lanny Wadkins placed second, one stroke back.

Patti Rizzo shot a 16-under-par 272, a stroke better than runner-up Jane Crafter, to win a $250,000 LPGA event in Corning, N.Y.

Houston shot a four-round total of 1,172 to win the NCAA men's championship in Haines City, Fla. Oklahoma State finished second, three strokes back. CLARK BURROUGHS of Ohio State beat Sam Randolph of USC on the first hole of sudden death to win the individual title.

HOCKEY—The Edmonton Oilers took a 2-1 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals (page 26).

HORSE RACING—MOM'S COMMAND ($3.40), Abigail Fuller in the saddle, beat Le L'Argent by three lengths to win the $188,400 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park. She covered the mile course in 1:35[4/5].

INDOOR SOCCER—Baltimore and San Diego split the week's two games, and the Sockers led Baltimore in the best-of-seven final series 3-1. In Game 3 Baltimore won 10-6 for its seventh straight home win against San Diego, as Stan Stamenkovic scored four goals. The Sockers avenged the loss by punishing Baltimore 14-2 in Game 4. San Diego forward Steve Zungul scored eight points (one goal and seven assists) to give him four MISL records, including most playoff points (31) and assists (21). Socker Brian Quinn also added a hat trick.

LACROSSE—Johns Hopkins defeated Syracuse 11-4 for its second consecutive NCAA Division I title in Providence (page 70). To reach the finals, Hopkins rallied to beat Virginia 11-8, and Syracuse edged North Carolina 14-13 in overtime.

MOTOR SPORTS—DANNY SULLIVAN, driving a March-Cosworth, beat Mario Andretti in a Lola-Cosworth by 2.5 seconds to win the 69th Indianapolis 500. Sullivan averaged 152.982 mph around the 2.5-mile oval (page 20).

Darrell Waltrip drove his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to victory in the $600,000 World 600 in Harrisburg, N.C. Averaging 141.742 mph around the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway oval, Waltrip finished 14.11 seconds ahead of Harry Gant, also in a Monte Carlo.

TENNIS—Sixth-seeded Georgia upset defending champion UCLA 5-1 to win the NCAA men's team title in Athens, Ga. It was Georgia's first official NCAA championship in any sport and the first time since 1972 that a school outside California had won the tennis crown. Georgia and UCLA reached the finals by topping USC and SMU, 5-3 and 5-4, respectively. Defending champ MIKAEL PERNFORS of Georgia won the singles championship by defeating his roommate George Bezecny 6-2, 6-3.

Stanford's LINDA GATES beat Gretchen Rush of Trinity 7-6, 6-2 to win the NCAA women's singles championship in Oklahoma City.

The U.S. team of JOHN McENROE and JIMMY CONNORS defended its title by defeating Ivan Lendl and Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia in the $500,000 World Team Cup in Düsseldorf, West Germany.

Bonnie Gadusek defeated top-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-2 to win the $100,000 European Open Grand Prix in Lugano, Switzerland.

TRACK & FIELD—JIM HOWARD cleared 7'8½" at the Rice University Meet of Champions in Houston to break the American high-jump record by half an inch. The old record was shared by Dwight Stones and Dennis Lewis; the world record of 7'10" is held by Zhu Jianhua of China.

MILEPOSTS—HIRED: As basketball coach at Boston University, MIKE JARVIS, 40, formerly the coach at Cambridge (Mass.) Rindge & Latin High School. Jarvis succeeds John Kuester, 30, who resigned last month to become the coach at George Washington.

PUT ON PROBATION: By the NCAA, Georgia's basketball program, for one year, because of recruiting violations.

REDUCED: By a vote of the NFL owners, the size of 1985 team rosters from 49 to 45 players. The owners, who cited hard economic times for the move, expect to save approximately $500,000 apiece.