A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week

BASKETBALL—NBA: BOSTON (46-23) boosted its lead in the East to 1� games over the 76ers with four straight wins before a loss to the Bullets. PHILADELPHIA (44-24), only half a game out a week earlier, won three and lost two, while CINCINNATI (41-27) and NEW YORK (27-39) each split four for the week. In the Western Division LOS ANGELES (38-31) won two and lost to the Celtics 115-108. Second-place BALTIMORE (33-36), five games back, split with Philadelphia , then beat the Celtics 132-92. SAN FRANCISCO (30-39) and ST. LOUIS (28-37) each won one out of three, while DETROIT (19-50) lost four in a row.

BOATING—"The roughest race I ever saw," said JERRY LANGER of Miami Beach after being declared winner of the 172-mile Sam Griffith Memorial ocean race for powerboats, run off Florida 's east coast in 8-to-10-foot seas and 23-mph winds. Langer, in his 20-foot dual-engine outboard, and former world champion ocean racer Jim Wynne , driving a 32-foot aluminum craft with two 445-hp gas turbine engines, were the only two entrants out of 31 to complete the race. Wynne actually came in first, but race officials considered his boat experimental and ruled him ineligible for the title. Current world champion Dick Bertram 's 36-foot Brave Moppie, valued at $100,000, sank while leading 40 miles from the start.

BOWLING—SKEE FOREMSKY of El Paso won his first PBA title in four years when he defeated Dave Davis of Phoenix 211-204 to win the $7,500 first prize in the $40,000 Las Vegas Open.

FIGURE SKATING—PEGGY FLEMING of Colorado Springs took the world title from Canada 's Petra Burka, the defending champion, in Davos , Switzerland (page 58), while Austria 's EMMERICH DANZER, the European champion, won the men's title. His countryman, Wolfgang Schwarz, placed second, with Gary Visconti of Detroit third and Scott Allen of Smoke Rise, N.J. fourth. The Russian husband-and-wife team, LYUDMILA and OLEG PROTOPOPOV, retained its pairs championship, while another Russian pair, Tatiana Zhuk and Aleksandr Gorelik, placed second. The youthful sister and brother from Seattle , Cynthia and Ronald Kauffman, were surprise bronze medalists and Britain 's BERNARD FORD and DIANE TOWLER took the ice-dancing title.

HOCKEY—NHL: MONTREAL (31-16-7) took three games to run its winning streak to five and zipped into a tie for first place with CHICAGO (31-18-7), winner of two out of three. Bobby Hull was shut out by a fourth-string rookie goalie—19-year-old Al Smith—in a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs but scored a goal apiece in his next two games to lift his total to 49, just two shy of breaking the season record. DETROIT (26-21-9) slumped eight points away from the lead by losing three games and ended the week only three points ahead of fourth-place TORONTO (25-20-8), which won two and tied one. NEW YORK (14-33-9), with a 1-1-1 record, tiptoed out of the cellar as BOSTON (15-34-6) lost all three games it played.

HORSE RACING—BILL SHOEMAKER, hopping from coast to coast, won three stakes races in three days and then, after a day off, took the Santa Anita Handicap. He rode unbeaten SABER MOUNTAIN ($3.60) to victory by a head in the $62,900 San Felipe Handicap (page 56) at Santa Anita, and the next day was aboard Ogden Phipps 's BUCKPASSER ($2.40) for another win by a head in Hialeah 's $30,400 Everglades. Back in California a day later Shoemaker won the Santa Barbara Handicap with STRAIGHT DEAL ($11.60) by three lengths, and on Saturday rode LUCKY DEBONAIR ($8.20) to a length victory in the $145,000 Santa Anita Handicap. For his week's work, Shoemaker earned $18,851.

At Pimlico , IMPRESSIVE ($3.40), a stablemate of Buckpasser and another Phipps candidate for the Derby, won the $27,700 Pimlico Handicap by three lengths over Quinta.

Kentucky Jug ($7.20), ridden by Bill Boland , gave Calumet Farm its first win in a $100,000 race since 1962 when he won the $103,800 Hialeah Turf Cup in Miami by 2� lengths over Walnut Hill Farm's Pillanlelbun.

MOTOR SPORTS—RICHARD PETTY of Randleman, N.C. won the Daytona 500—cut to 495 miles because of rain—by averaging 160 mph (page 24).

SKIING—NORWAY took five gold medals in the world Nordic championships in Oslo as BJORN WIRKOLA, a 22-year-old shipping clerk, won both the Holmenkollen Hill special 90-meter and the 70-meter jumps, and 24-year-old GJERMUND EGGEN took two individual cross-country gold medals—the 50 kilometer and 15-kilometer—and anchored the winning 40-kilometer relay team (page 51). EERO MANTYRANTA of Finland was the winner of the men's 30-kilometer cross-country. West Germany 's GEORG THOMA gained the Nordic combined title (consisting of jumping and a 15-kilometer race) for the fourth straight year and immediately announced his retirement. Russia swept the three women's cross-country events as ALEVTINA KOLCHINA took the five-kilometer and CLAUDIA BOYARSKIKH the 10-kilometer and the 15-kilometer relay.