A Roundup of the Week Feb. 6-12
PRO BASKETBALL—In the games before the All-Star break, rebounder extraordinaire (and non-All-Star) Charles Oakley hauled down 28 rebounds—and scored 44 points—to help the Atlantic Division leaders, the Knicks, beat the Bullets 117-105 and the Hawks 113-101. The loss to New York pushed the fourth-place Hawks 7½ games behind the Cavaliers, the Central Division pacesetters. Cleveland, with 35 victories, was the only NBA team with more wins than the Knicks and Lakers, who had 32. Before his Clippers put their 18-game losing streak on the line against the Mavericks, L.A. coach Don Casey said, "We'll break it somewhere down the line, and then we'll start another one." It's not a good idea to publicly contradict your coach, and the Clippers didn't fail Casey. After Dallas manhandled them 129-111, leaving them one shy of the league record for consecutive losses in a season, they beat the Midwest Division-leading Rockets 114-111 as Ken Norman had 32 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. The next night Los Angeles obediently began a new losing streak, falling 120-113 to the Suns. Against the Pacific Division leaders, the Lakers, former sub Terry Teagle scored 35 points as the Warriors handed L.A. its second home loss of the year, 121-118. In the All-Star Game, the West beat the East 143-134.
BOXING—RENE JACQUOT won the WBC super welterweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision over Donald Curry in Grenoble, France.
FIGURE SKATING—At the U.S. championships in Baltimore, JILL TRENARY won the women's title, CHRISTOPHER BOWMAN the men's, KRISTI YAMAGUCHI and RUDI GALINDO the pairs, and SUSAN WYNNE and JOSEPH DRUAR ice dancing (page 22).
GOLF—GENE SAUERS beat David Ogrin by one stroke to win the rain-shortened Hawaiian Open and $135,000, in Honolulu. Sauers shot a 19-under-par 197 for 54 holes.
HOCKEY—Wayne Gretzky returned to Edmonton, where he had starred for the Oilers for 10 seasons, and just as in the old days led the home side to a 9-5 win. There was a difference, however: This time Gretzky, now of the Los Angeles Kings, was playing for the Campbell Conference against the Wales Conference in the NHL All-Star Game, which doesn't count in the standings. In games that did, Gretzky's six points in L.A.'s three outings helped the Kings stay a point ahead of Edmonton in the race for second place in the Smythe Division. Los Angeles is 23 points behind the Flames, winners of their last seven. The Canadiens, who won their only game to extend their victory streak to five, remained way ahead of the pack in the Adams Division. The news wasn't so good for the leaders of the Norris, where the floundering Red Wings were finding out that it's difficult to win, even in this pathetic division, with a one-man (Steve Yzerman) team. While Detroit was bedeviled by five points from right wing John MacLean in a 6-3 loss to New Jersey, veteran goaltender Greg Millen earned his sixth shutout of the year for the second-place Blues in a 5-0 defeat of the Islanders. Millen, who had had 10 shutouts in his 10 previous NHL seasons, thus moved St. Louis to within six points of the Red Wings. In the Patrick Division the Penguins lost two of three but held a one-point lead over the Rangers.
INDOOR SOCCER—The MISL match of the week pitted first-place Baltimore against second-place San Diego, which was three games back. Baltimore midfielder Billy Ronson's goal with 3:37 left broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Blast the victory. Two nights earlier, the Sockers had defeated Dallas 4-0; that victory made Ron Newman the first professional soccer coach in North America to have 500 wins.
SKIING—In men's competition during the second week of the World Alpine Championships at Vail, Colo., RUDOLF NIERLICH of Austria won both the slalom and the giant slalom, and MARTIN HANGL of Switzerland the super giant slalom. In the women's events MATEJA SVET of Yugoslavia was the slalom champion, VRENI SCHNEIDER of Switzerland finished first in the giant slalom, and ULRIKE MAIER of Austria triumphed in the super giant slalom (page 32).
TRACK & FIELD—SERGEI BUBKA of the Soviet Union set a world indoor record in the pole vault by clearing 19'9¼" in Osaka, Japan. He surpassed by¼ inch the mark achieved on Feb. 4 by countryman Rodion Gataullin.
MILEPOSTS—ELECTED: To the Basketball Hall of Fame: K.C. JONES, 56, a defensive specialist who played guard on eight NBA-champion Boston Celtics clubs before turning to coaching and guiding the '83-84 and '85-86 Celtics to NBA crowns; LENNY WILKENS, 51 and now coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, an All-America playmaking guard at Providence who, during a 15-season, four-team career as a pro player and player-coach, had 7,211 assists, the third-most in NBA history, and coached the '78-79 Seattle SuperSonics to the league championship; and WILLIAM (Pop) GATES, 71, who starred with the New York Renaissance and other teams during the game's nascent days.
FIRED: As coach of the Winnipeg Jets, DAN MALONEY, 38, who had an 18-25-9 record in this, his third season with the team. RICK BOWNESS, 34, who guided the Moncton Hawks, the Jet's AHL affiliate, to a 28-20-5 mark this year, succeeded him.
NAMED: As coach of the San Diego Chargers, former Washington Redskins assistant DAN HENNING, 46.
SENTENCED: By a federal judge in Memphis, former Memphis State basketball coach DANA KIRK, 53, to a year in prison and three years' probation (he was also fined $20,000) as a result of his conviction last November on charges of income tax evasion, filing false tax returns and obstruction of justice.
By a county judge in Aurora, Colo., Denver Bronco running back TONY DORSETT, 34, to a 90-day suspended sentence, 12 months' probation and 36 hours of community service, following his conviction on drunk-driving charges brought last October. Dorsett, who pleaded guilty, will also have to complete an alcohol education program and pay $447 in court costs and fines.
By a district court judge in Royal Oak, Mich., Detroit Red Wing left wing PETR KLIMA, 24, to three nights in prison as a result of his conviction last October on drunk-driving charges. Klima, who was arrested while on probation for an earlier drunk-driving offense, will also serve 18 months' probation and pay more than $1,300 in court costs and fines.
TRADED: To the Philadelphia Flyers, left wing AL SECORD, 30, by the Toronto Maple Leafs for an undetermined future draft choice; and center KEITH ACTON, 30, and an undetermined future draft choice, by the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for DAVE BROWN, 26.
DIED: DAN KELLY, 52, broadcaster for the St. Louis Blues; of cancer; in Chesterfield, Mo. Kelly died a few weeks after hearing that he had been selected as a 1989 Lester Patrick Award winner for his outstanding service to hockey in the U.S. and would be inducted into the sport's hall of fame.