PRO BASKETBALL—"I know it sounds comical," said Denver Coach Doug Moe after a 162-143 Nugget victory over Portland, "but we won it on defense." Comical indeed, after the NBA's highest-scoring game of the season, but Denver did confuse the Trail Blazers' passing game enough to force 30 turnovers and did convert them into 30 points. And the Nuggets weren't the only ones streaking to heights. New York, still a distant third to Philadelphia and Boston in the Atlantic Division, had victories over New Jersey (116-102), Cleveland (122-111) and Detroit (120-92). Sly Williams got 27 points, seven assists and four steals in the win over the Pistons, the Knicks' seventh straight. Pacific Division-leading Phoenix has also made a habit of winning. The Suns were trailing Washington 105-103 with 21 seconds remaining when Walter Davis, who had 32 points in the game, hit a jumper from the key to bring on an overtime period and a 113-107 Phoenix victory. Defeats of San Diego (107-93 and 110-94) and Dallas (119-97) brought the Suns' victory string to six. The Mavericks were also streaking. In addition to losing to Phoenix, Dallas fell 101-95 to Detroit, which had previously lost eight in a row, and twice to Midwest Division leader San Antonio (102-98 and 107-99). That gave the Mavs 12 consecutive losses. Los Angeles brought a seven-game win streak to Philadelphia, where it trailed 99-89 with 3� minutes to play before closing the gap to 100-99. The 76ers clinched a 102-99 victory on a dunk by Julius Erving with 18 seconds remaining. Chicago lost 128-109 to the Bucks, who are No. 1 in the Central Division, and then defeated Kansas City 116-115 on Ricky Sobers' 20-foot jumper with five seconds on the clock and New Jersey 135-133 in overtime. In a 134-117 victory over Seattle, Artis Gilmore (page 36) hit 11 of 12 shots from the floor to halt a Sonics win streak at four.
BOATING—ROBIN, a 36-foot sloop skippered by Ted Hood, won the St. Petersburg-to- Fort Lauderdale race of the SORC series with a corrected time of 43:43:37. First across the line was Jim Kilroy's 81-foot KIALOA (page 30).
BOWLING—EARL ANTHONY defeated Tom Baker 218-202 to win a $110,000 tournament in St. Louis.
BOXING—EUSEBIO PEDROZA retained his WBA featherweight title with a 13th-round knockout of Patrick Ford in Panama City, Panama.
DOG SHOWS—Ch. DHANDY'S FAVORITE WOOD-CHUCK, a 3-year-old fawn pug owned by Robert Hauslohner, won best-in-show at the 105th Westminster Kennel Club show in New York.
GOLF—HALE IRWIN shot a 23-under-par 265 to win the $325,000 Hawaiian Open by six strokes over Don January.
Joanne Carner beat Dot Germain in sudden death to win a $100,000 LPGA tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla. They each shot a one-under-par 215 over 54 holes.
HOCKEY—Shooting for its fifth consecutive victory, Quebec spotted Boston three goals in the second period before rallying to tie on a goal by Jacques Richard off the pad of Bruin Goalie Marco Baron and to win 4-3 on a score by Robbie Ftorek with 5:12 remaining. The Nordiques' good-luck charm, Goaltender Dan Bouchard, had 29 saves. Bouchard sat out the next game, a 5-3 loss at Calgary, but returned to the net to kick out 27 shots in a 4-2 triumph over Edmonton, in which Anton Stastny scored the deciding goal off a pass from his brother Peter. Buffalo spotted St. Louis a two-goal lead in the second period, but recovered for a 3-3 tie on Rob McClanahan's score midway through the third period. The Sabres then got a 6-3 victory over Washington, with Ric Seiling pulling off a hat trick, and kept their 11-game unbeaten streak alive with a 4-4 draw at Calgary. After its standoff with Buffalo, St. Louis tied 3-3 at Montreal. Because of that draw and a 5-3 Islanders' loss to Pittsburgh, St. Louis and the Islanders were in a dead heat for first in the league standings going into a showdown on Saturday. With the Islanders' John Tonelli and the Blues' Mike Zuke swapping second-period goals for the game's only scores, the Islanders and St. Louis remained tied with 78 points apiece. In the 33rd NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles, the Campbell Conference defeated the Wales 4-1 as St. Louis Goalie Mike Liut turned away all 25 shots he faced in his 31:43 of play.
HORSE RACING—FLYING PASTER ($2.80), ridden by Chris McCarron, defeated Doonesbury on a disqualification to win the $159,200 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old covered the 1? miles in 1:46[3/5].
Flying Nashua ($4.80), Angel Cordero Jr. up, beat Minnesota Chief by a nose to win the $67,450 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita (page 58).