A roundup of the week Nov. 21-27

Compiled by ROB BUCHANAN

December 05, 1983

PRO BASKETBALL—Some called it slow-Moe, but it was more like no m�s. With 1:12 left to play and Portland leading 146-111, frustrated Denver Coach Doug Moe found out that the Trail Blazers' team record was 150 points in a game. He called a timeout and told his players. "Let them have it." That the Nuggets did, standing stonily in place as Portland scored five unopposed baskets and won 156-116. "What makes the final minute any different from the nondefense we put up against them in the first and second quarters?" asked Moe. "We didn't guard anybody all night long." Make that all season long: Denver leads the NBA in points given up (127.8 per game). But the Nuggets also lead the league in scoring (125.5) and trail Dallas by only 2� games in the Midwest Division. Portland went on to score back-to-back wins over Seattle and wound up the week tied with Los Angeles atop the Pacific Division, while Milwaukee took over the Central lead from Atlanta. Atlantic Division leader Philadelphia won all three of its games, including the first meeting of pro basketball's supercenter and the man who would be Moses. Houston's Ralph Sampson, Malone out-scored Sampson 24-20 and humbled him on the boards 13-7 in the 76ers' 115-101 victory, Intoned Malone, "This was not a battle between Ralph and me. He's a team player and so am I." But it seemed unlikely that Houston's first sellout crowd of the year had come to watch the 5-9 Rockets pass the ball around. Another big crowd—13,186—saw Utah lose 128-117 to Chicago in the Jazz's first regular-season game in Las Vegas (page 70).