A Roundup of the Week Jan. 18-24
PRO BASKETBALL—Midwest Division-leading Dallas is off to its best start ever. The Mavs won four straight last week to run their record to 25-11 and take a 4½-game lead over second-place Houston. Along with two easy wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas beat Portland 120-116 and stormed back from an 18-point first-period deficit to defeat Milwaukee 113-97. Almost as important as Mark Aguirre's 28.5 points per game was the play of forward Roy Tarpley, who came off the bench to average 17.5 points and 12.8 rebounds. In the Central Division, Atlanta's lead over second-place Detroit grew slightly, to 4½ games, and the Hawks' 3-2 week gave them a 29-11 record—best in the Eastern Conference—and secured All-Star Game coaching honors for Mike Fratello. Dominique Wilkins, who averaged 33.6 points for the five games, set an Omni record for points scored in a period when he got 24 in the first 12 minutes of a 106-94 Hawk defeat of Chicago. Atlantic Division-leading Boston, after running its win streak to seven with routs at home of Golden State, Phoenix and Atlanta, visited Cleveland, where the Celtics hadn't won in their last three tries. That pattern persisted as the Cavaliers ran away in the fourth period to triumph 119-100. Improving quickly in the Atlantic was Washington, which lost to Chicago early in the week but then won three straight to go 7-2 under new coach Wes Unseld. In the Pacific Division, the pacesetting Los Angeles Lakers stumbled slightly in a midweek 115-113 loss to Denver but bounced back with a 113-112 win over New York, in which Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 12 fourth-period points, and a 116-109 defeat of Seattle that snapped the SuperSonics' 17-game home win streak.
BOWLING—BOB BENOIT rolled the first perfect game in a PBA title match to beat Mark Roth 300-255 at a tournament in Grand Prairie, Texas. Benoit earned $27,000 for the win and another $100,000 for the perfect game.
BOXING—MIKE TYSON successfully defended his undisputed heavyweight title against Larry Holmes with a fourth-round TKO, in Atlantic City (page 12). On the undercard, CARLOS DE LEON of Puerto Rico retained his WBC cruiserweight crown with a unanimous 12-round decision over Jose Flores of Uruguay.
Calvin Grove of Coatesville, Pa., knocked out defending champion Antonio Rivera of Puerto Rico in the fourth round to win the IBF featherweight title, in Gamaches, France.
GOLF—JAY HAAS shot a final-round 70 for a 90-hole score of 338, 22 under par, to beat David Edwards by two strokes and win $180,000 at the Bob Hope Classic, in Indian Wells, Calif.
HOCKEY—How much does Edmonton miss Wayne Gretzky? Since losing their star center to a knee injury on Dec. 30, the Oilers have gone 4-4-4, and in four games last week earned only one point, which came when rookie Kelly Buchberger's first NHL goal gave them a 4-4 tie with Quebec. Otherwise, Edmonton lost to Montreal 6-4, to Philadelphia 3-1 and to the Islanders 3-2. What had been a one-point Smythe Division lead for Edmonton at the beginning of the week was a one-point deficit at its end, as Calgary went 1-1-1 to reclaim first place. Detroit's Norris Division lead grew to nine points as the Red Wings won a pair of squeakers and then came from behind to pull out a tie. Detroit beat Toronto 4-3 and New Jersey 3-2 when Brent Ashton's 40-foot slap shot 3:37 into overtime beat Devils goalie Bob Sauve. The Wings then drew 4-4 with the Flames and lost 2-1 to Hartford. Neither Boston nor Montreal, each of which had the Adams Division lead at some time during the week, played as if it cared to put any daylight between itself and its rival. The Bruins, who began the week with a one-point lead, sandwiched a 6-1 win over Minnesota between losses to Buffalo, 5-3, and Philadelphia, 6-4. The Canadiens, after defeating Edmonton to take first place, fell 4-1 to St. Louis and 4-3 to Pittsburgh and then climbed back into first with a 5-3 win over Quebec. The Flyers extended their Patrick Division lead to five points. After its win over Edmonton, Philly traveled to Boston Garden, where it scored six unanswered goals against the Bruins and held on to triumph 6-4. The Flyers finished the week with a 5-3 loss to Minnesota. Pittsburgh won three straight games, during which Mario Lemieux had seven points—two goals, five assists—to push his NHL-leading total to 102.
HORSE RACING—RUHLMANN ($9.20), Pat Day up, beat Havanaffair by six lengths to win the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. The 3-year-old colt ran the 1[1/16] miles in 1:39[2/5] to earn a $137,500 purse.
INDOOR SOCCER—Western Division-leading San Diego scored four unanswered first-half goals in an 8-4 defeat of Los Angeles and, behind Branko Segota's fifth hat trick of the season, beat St. Louis 6-3 to extend its winning streak to eight games. In the Eastern Division, first-place Cleveland edged Dallas 2-1 on Craig Allen's power-play goal in the third period and beat Kansas City 7-6 when Andy Schmetzer scored with 40 seconds to play.
MOTOR SPORTS—JUHA KANKKUNEN of Finland, driving a Peugeot 205, won the 10th Paris-to-Dakar rally. Six people died during the race's 22 days (page 20).
TENNIS—MATS WILANDER beat Pat Cash 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6 to win the men's championship and $105,000 at the Australian Open in Melbourne. STEFFI GRAF defeated Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6 to take the women's title and $110,000 (page 66).
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As football coach at Kent State, DICK CRUM, 53, who had resigned from the same position at North Carolina on Nov. 30.
ORDERED: By arbitrator Thomas Roberts, that seven major league players, who were free agents in 1985 but as victims of collusion among baseball's owners received no offers from teams other than the ones they had been playing for, be permitted to negotiate as free agents until March 1 without relinquishing their present contracts. The seven are outfielder KIRK GIBSON, 30, and infielder TOM BROOKENS, 34, of the Detroit Tigers; catcher-outfielder CARLTON FISK, 40, of the Chicago White Sox; pitcher JOE NIEKRO, 43, of the Minnesota Twins; outfielder JUAN BENIQUEZ, 37, of the Toronto Blue Jays; and catcher BUTCH WYNEGAR, 31, and reliever DONNIE MOORE, 33, of the California Angels.
RESIGNED: As executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, HARVEY SCHILLER, 48, who had held that post since Jan. 4 (page 7).
As football coach at Illinois, MIKE WHITE, 52, who had a 47-41-3 record in eight years with the Illini. It had earlier been announced that the Illinois football program, which had been on probation from 1984 to '86 for recruiting violations, was again being investigated by the NCAA.
RETIRED: As coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, TOM FLORES, 50, who had an 83-53 record in his nine seasons with the Raiders and guided them to Super Bowl wins in 1981 and '84. Los Angeles's record in '87 was 5-10, its worst since '62.
TRADED: By the Edmonton Oilers, defenseman MOE MANTHA, 27, to the Minnesota North Stars for center KEITH ACTON, 29.
