A Roundup of the Week Nov. 23-29

PRO BASKETBALL—The Celtics continued to dominate the Atlantic Division despite losses to the Bulls, 107-102, and the Bucks, 112-97. Sandwiched between those losses were wins over the Hawks, 117-102, and the SuperSonics, 117-112. Larry Bird, sidelined for 4½ games with sore Achilles tendons, returned to action against Atlanta, coming off the bench in the fourth period to ignite a 12-2 Boston surge. In his first game back in the starting lineup, against Seattle, Bird connected on a three-pointer in the fourth period to give the Celts the lead for good. Chicago, which stayed atop the Central Division with its victory over the Celtics and triumphs against the Bucks, 103-101, and the Rockets, 98-86, was sparked by rookies Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant. Against Milwaukee, Pippen, a swingman, had 12 fourth-period points and a key steal in the closing seconds; against Houston, Grant, a forward, paced the Bulls with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Only a 94-93 loss to the Mavericks stood between Chicago—which is off to its best start in 14 years—and a perfect week. In the Midwest Division the Nuggets moved into sole possession of first place. In a 132-104 romp over the Nets, Denver's Fat Lever was in Fat City: He had a triple double (21 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds) and fell only two steals shy of a quadruple double. In a 106-98 defeat of Dallas, Alex English passed Dan Issel to become the Nuggets' alltime leading scorer, with 16,590 points. Denver's lone loss was 127-119 to the Pacific Division-leading Lakers, who lost to the Sonics 103-85 in their only other game.

BOWLING—LEROY BORNHOP of St. Charles, Mo., beat Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela, 169-160, in a PBA event to win $27,000, in Columbus, Ohio.

BOXING—DONNY LA LONDE, of Canada, knocked out Eddie Davis, of Freeport, N.Y., in the second round to win the vacant WBC light heavyweight crown, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

Julio Gervacio of the Dominican Republic scored a unanimous 12-round decision to take the WBA junior featherweight title from Louie Espinoza of Phoenix, in San Juan.

CANADIAN FOOTBALL—The EDMONTON ESKIMOS defeated the Toronto Argonauts 38-36 to win the 75th CFL Grey Cup, in Vancouver.

CROSS-COUNTRY—At the TAC championships in New York City, PAT PORTER won by running the 6.3-mile course in 29:58. LYNN JENNINGS ran the 3.7-mile course in 19:35 to win the women's title. Earlier at the NCAA men's championships in Charlottesville, Va., JOE FALCON of Arkansas covered the 10,000-meter course in 29:14.97 to win the individual title and lead the Razorbacks to the team crown (page 42).

PRO FOOTBALL—The crowd tied for the lead in the AFC East thinned a bit—to the Colts, the Bills and the Jets. Eric Dickerson rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns as Indianapolis routed Houston 51-27. The Buffalo defense (page 66) blanked Miami 27-0, ending Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino's streak of 30 straight games with at least one touchdown pass, and the Jets downed the Bengals 27-20. The Eagles edged New England 34-31 in OT despite a brilliant performance by Pats quarterback Tom Ramsey, who rushed for one TD and passed for 402 yards and three scores. The Browns stayed on top in the AFC Central despite a 38-24 loss to the 49ers, who still lead the NFC West. The Broncos, sparked by John Elway's 347 yards and three touchdown passes, rolled over the Chargers 31-17, but San Diego retained at least a share of the AFC West lead with the Seahawks, who played on Monday. The Redskins remained in command of the NFC East by rallying from a 16-point deficit to overcome the Giants 23-19. In other games, on Thanksgiving Day the Chiefs ended a nine-game losing streak by feasting on the Lions 27-20, and the Vikings triumphed 44-38 in OT over the Cowboys; the Bears drubbed the Packers 23-10 to maintain their No. 1 spot in the NFC Central; the Rams routed the Buccaneers 35-3; the Cardinals subdued the Falcons 34-21; and the Saints beat the Stealers 20-16 (page 20).

HOCKEY—While the Islanders, 1-2 for the week, remained on top in the Patrick Division, attention was focused on their division rivals in Pittsburgh, where Paul Coffey, the two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman newly acquired from the Oilers, made his season debut. He had three power-play assists, one a setup of the game-winner, in a 6-4 victory over the Nordiques. He also had a hand in the Penguins' 4-2 win and 5-5 tie in a home-and-home series against the Capitals. In the Adams Division the Canadiens dropped a pair of games, 4-3 to the Nordiques and 4-2 to the North Stars, but edged the Whalers 6-5 and rolled over the Jets 7-3 to remain in first place. In the romp over Winnipeg, Mats Naslund got two goals and two assists for Montreal, which has the best record in the league. In the Norris Division the Red Wings beat the Jets 10-8, the Blues 6-0 and the Bruins 3-2 to move into first place past the Blackhawks, who went winless for the week. Detroit center Steve Yzerman scored the tying goal and assisted on the game-winner in the Boston victory. In the Smythe Division the Flames—unbeaten in their last five games—continued to sizzle, with wins over the Devils, 9-2, Canucks, 4-2, and the Kings, 8-4. Left wing John Tonelli had four points against LA. Those victories moved the Flames to one point behind the Oilers, who were 2-1 on the week.

INDOOR SOCCER—In the East, Cleveland beat Chicago 7-2 to remain in first place, while in the West, San Diego overtook St. Louis for the top spot by defeating Wichita 12-2 and Kansas City 4-3.

SKIING—In Sestriere, Italy, ALBERTO TOMBA of Italy won a World Cup men's slalom race and a giant slalom. In the women's races BLANCA FERNANDEZ-OCHOA of Spain triumphed in the slalom, and SIGRID WOLF of Austria won the super-giant.

MILEPOSTS—FIRED: As football coach at Kansas, BOB VALESENTE, 47, who in his two seasons was 4-17-1.

TRADED: By the Edmonton Oilers, All-Star defenseman and two-time Norris Trophy winner PAUL COFFEY, 26, left wing DAVE HUNTER, 29, and a minor leaguer, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for centers DAVE HANNAN, 26, and CRAIG SIMPSON, 20, and defensemen CHRIS JOSEPH, 18, and MOE MANTHA, 26.

By the Utah Jazz, center DARRYL DAWKINS, 30, to the Detroit Pistons for second-round draft picks in 1988 and '90.

UPHELD: By the New York State Supreme Court, terms of the deed of gift of the America's Cup that would require the San Diego Yacht Club to accept a challenge by a New Zealand syndicate to hold a Cup defense late next summer, three years earlier than planned, in boats much larger than the 12-meter yachts used in Cup competitions since 1958 (page 28).

DIED: FLOYD CAVES (Babe) HERMAN, 84, who played first base and outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers from 1926 through '37 and in '45; of complications from pneumonia; in Glendale, Calif. Herman, who had a .324 lifetime average, hit .393 for Brooklyn in '30.