A roundup of the week March 31-April 6
PRO BASKETBALL—Atlantic Division champion Boston, 3-1 for the week, won an NBA-record 28th consecutive home game with a 122-106 defeat of Detroit and extended the streak to 29 two nights later by beating New York 119-98. Philadelphia's 93-87 win over the Knicks—who had been eliminated from playoff contention the night before by New Jersey—was the Sixers' 50th, making it the seventh straight season they have reached that level. Philadelphia then edged the Celtics 95-94 on a Julius Erving three-point field goal at the buzzer to end Boston's 14-game home-and-away winning streak. Milwaukee clinched its sixth straight Central Division title with a 116-107 win over Chicago. The Bulls bounced back to beat Indiana and Atlanta and move into a tie with 0-4 Cleveland in the race for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Detroit beat the last-place Pacers twice but lost 115-108 to Milwaukee; Piston center Bill Laimbeer had 17 rebounds against the Bucks to surpass the 1,000 mark for the third straight year. Portland earned the sixth Western Conference playoff berth with a 127-110 win over Denver, and Sacramento secured the seventh spot by defeating Phoenix 119-100. The Kings beat San Antonio 109-99 earlier in the week in a game in which the Spurs' Alvin Robertson had four steals to break the 9-year-old season steal record of 281 of Don Buse, now a Spurs assistant coach. As of Sunday, Robertson had 290 steals. A 1-3 week left Phoenix 1½ games behind San Antonio, which went 0-3 for the week, in the race for the Western Conference's final playoff spot.
GOLF—SANDY LYLE of Scotland shot a 13-under-par 275 to win the Greater Greensboro Open, his first victory on the PGA Tour, worth $90,000. Andy Bean finished two strokes back.
Pat Bradley defeated Val Skinner by two strokes to win the Dinah Shore tournament and $75,000 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Bradley shot an eight-under-par 280.
GYMNASTICS—ARIZONA STATE defeated runner-up Nebraska 283.90-283.60 to win the NCAA men's team title in Lincoln, Neb.
PRO HOCKEY—The regular NHL season ended with Edmonton on top of the 21-team pack with 119 points and Detroit on the bottom with 40, 14 behind second-worst Los Angeles. Winnipeg earned the third Smythe Division playoff berth with a 5-2 win over the Kings. Two nights later the Jets tied the Kings 4-4 to eliminate L.A. from playoff contention and enable Vancouver to back into the division's final playoff spot despite Canuck losses to Calgary and Edmonton. In his team's 8-4 win over the Canucks, Edmonton's Paul Coffey scored his 46th and 47th goals of the season to break Bobby Orr's 11-year-old record of 46 goals by a defenseman; Coffey raised his total to 48 two nights later in a 9-3 loss to Calgary. In the Flames' only win of the season over provincial rival Edmonton, Wayne Gretzky assisted on all three Oiler goals to increase his season point total to 214, eclipsing his 4-year-old record of 12 points; he ended the season with 215. Boston and Montreal clinched Adams Division playoff berths early in the week when Buffalo lost 5-3 to Hartford. The Whalers then beat out Buffalo to secure their first playoff spot in six years by whipping Toronto 7-1 as the Sabres were losing 4-2 to the Canadiens. The loss knocked Buffalo out of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. The Rangers, down 4-2, scored two goals in the last two minutes to tie Washington, while Pittsburgh lost 4-3 in overtime to the Flyers to give the Rangers the last Patrick Division playoff berth. In the battle for first place in the division, Philadelphia overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Washington 5-3 for the title. The Norris Division leader was also decided on the last day of the regular season when Chicago moved ahead of Minnesota into first with a win over St. Louis.
HORSE RACING—SNOW CHIEF ($2.60), ridden by Alex Solis, won the Santa Anita Derby by six lengths over Icy Groom. The 3-year-old, who won $275,000, ran the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:48[3/5].
Badger Land ($2.60), with Jorge Velasquez in the saddle, beat Bolshoi Boy by four lengths to win the Flamingo Stakes and $180,000 at Hialeah Park. The 3-year-old colt ran the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:47.
Mogambo ($9.60), Jacinto Vasquez up, covered the mile in 1:34[3/5] to win the Gotham Stakes and $214,200 at Aqueduct by three-quarters of a length over Groovy, who was then disqualified and placed fifth. Tasso, who finished third, was moved to second place.
INDOOR SOCCER—In the last week of the MISL's regular season, Baltimore broke a tie with Pittsburgh and Chicago for the final Eastern Division playoff berth by edging the Spirit 3-2. Earlier in the week Minnesota also clinched a spot in the playoffs and moved ahead of Dallas into second place by beating Dallas and Kansas City. Cleveland had the best regular-season record in the East, and San Diego finished on top in the West, followed by Wichita, Tacoma and St. Louis. Kansas City and Los Angeles missed the playoffs.
SURFING—With one competition remaining in the 20-event series, TOMMY CURREN of Santa Barbara, Calif. clinched the world championship with a second-place finish in the Easter Classic in Torquay, Australia. Curren, the first American to win the title, has won five events this season.
SWIMMING—Pablo Morales of STANFORD and Matt Biondi of California led their schools to first and second in the team standings, respectively, by winning three events each at the NCAA championships in Indianapolis. The Cardinals outscored the Golden Bears 404 to 335. Morales won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:43.05, the 200 individual medley in 1:45.43 and lowered his American 100 butterfly record from 46.52 to 46.26. Biondi won the 100 (42.03) and 200 (1:33.85) freestyles and broke Tom Jager's American 50-yard free mark by .02 second with a 19.22 clocking. The last swimmer to sweep the NCAA freestyle sprint events was Northwestern's Al Schwartz in 1930.
TENNIS—CHRIS EVERT LLOYD beat Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 6-2, 6-4 to win the Tournament of Champions in Marco Island, Fla.
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As basketball coach at Houston, PAT FOSTER, 46, who had a 134-49 record in six years at Lamar; at Minnesota, CLEM HASKINS, 42, who was 101-73 in six years at Western Kentucky; at Colorado, TOM MILLER, 37, who in six years at Cornell went 71-85; at Northwestern, BILL FOSTER, 55, who had a 92-79 record in his six years at South Carolina; at Iowa, TOM DAVIS, 47, who went 58-59 in four years at Stanford; at Navy, assistant coach PETE HERRMANN, 37; and at St. Bonaventure, assistant coach RON DeCARLI, 40.
TRADED: By the Montreal Expos, infielder FRED MANRIQUE, 24, to the St. Louis Cardinals for catcher TOM NIETO, 25; Montreal also sent a minor league pitcher to the Cincinnati Reds for infielder WAYNE KRENCHICKI, 31; by the Pittsburgh Pirates, centerfielder MARVELL WYNNE, 26, to the San Diego Padres for pitcher BOB PATTERSON, 26; and also by the Pirates, first baseman JASON THOMPSON, 31, to the Montreal Expos for two players to be named later.
DIED: Kent State football coach DICK SCESNIAK, 45; of a heart attack; in Ravenna, Ohio.