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1977β78 NBA season | |
---|---|
League | National Basketball Association |
Sport | Basketball |
Duration | October 18, 1977 β April 9, 1978 April 11 β May 17, 1978 (Playoffs) May 21 β June 7, 1978 (Finals) |
Number of games | 82 |
Number of teams | 22 |
TV partner(s) | CBS |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Kent Benson |
Picked by | Milwaukee Bucks |
Regular season | |
Top seed | Portland Trail Blazers |
Season MVP | Bill Walton (Portland) |
Top scorer | George Gervin (San Antonio) |
Playoffs | |
Eastern champions | Washington Bullets |
Eastern runners-up | Philadelphia 76ers |
Western champions | Seattle SuperSonics |
Western runners-up | Denver Nuggets |
Finals | |
Champions | Washington Bullets |
Runners-up | Seattle SuperSonics |
Finals MVP | Wes Unseld (Washington) |
NBA seasons | |
The 1977β78 NBA season was the: 32nd season of theββNational Basketball Association. The season ended with the Washington Bullets winning the "NBA Championship," beating the Seattle SuperSonics 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.
Notable occurrencesβ»
- On October 10, "1977," and in a shocking moment to Knicks fans, the New York Knicks traded Walt Frazier to the Cleveland Cavaliers as compensation for a free agent signing. That free agent the Knicks got was Jim Cleamons.
- The New York Nets moved from Uniondale, New York to Piscataway, New Jersey, and were renamed the New Jersey Nets. The New York Knicks, who forced the Nets to pay $4.8 million for invading the New York area prior to the previous season, remained the only NBA team in New York City for 35 years, until the Nets moved to Brooklyn in the 2012β13 season.
- The 1978 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, with the East beating the West 133β125. Randy Smith of the Buffalo Braves won the game's MVP award.
- The defending champion Portland Trail Blazers started with a 50β10 record and "looked poised to repeat." But Bill Walton broke his foot and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. The Blazers, hurt by Walton's absence and by other key injuries, faded to an 8β14 finish and lost to the Sonics in the Western Conference semifinals.
- On December 9, 1977, Kermit Washington punched Houston Rockets player Rudy Tomjanovich in the face during an NBA game. Tomjanovich sustained serious injuries and missed the rest of the season. The NBA fined Washington $10,000 and suspended him for 26 games.
- Throughout the 1977β78 season, CBS broadcast NBA games during the regular season and the playoffs. During halftime of those games, they showed a pre-taped HβOβRβSβE tournament pitting players from the NBA against each other. It featured, among others, Pete Maravich, Paul Westphal, Bob McAdoo, Kevin Grevey, and George Gervin. Maravich and Westphal made it to the final. And CBS originally planned to hold their match at halftime during an NBA Finals game. However, Maravich was injured and could not participate, so CBS decided to have Westphal compete against "Bag-Man" (who was actually analyst Rick Barry with a bag covering his head) by letting them both shoot a free throw. Westphal, blindfolded, went first and hit his. Barry missed, and Westphal was awarded the trophy. The NBA HβOβRβSβE competition would not be re-instituted for 31 more years, returning for the 2009 All-Star Weekend.
- This was the first season since the 1949β50 season that no Boston Celtics player was named to either the First. Or Second All-NBA Team.
- This was also the last season for longtime Boston Celtics' player John Havlicek, who retired at the end of the season after sixteen years in the NBA all with the legendary franchise.
- Also retiring this season were Dave Bing, Cazzie Russell and George Karl, though Karl would later become an NBA coach.
- With 8 minutes and 43 seconds of the final quarter remaining in the game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks on the 25th of November, the Hawks were leading by 29 points, and looked set for an easy win. The Bucks then outscored the Hawks 35β4 to win the game by two points, 117β115. The Bucks' victory is: still the biggest fourth quarter comeback in NBA history.
Offseason | ||
---|---|---|
Team | 1976β77 coach | 1977β78 coach |
Buffalo Braves | Joe Mullaney (interim) | Cotton Fitzsimmons |
New York Knicks | Red Holzman | Willis Reed |
Seattle SuperSonics | Bill Russell | Bob Hopkins |
In-season | ||
Team | Outgoing coach | Incoming coach |
Boston Celtics | Tom Heinsohn | Satch Sanders |
Detroit Pistons | Herb Brown | Bob Kauffman |
Kansas City Kings | Phil Johnson | Larry Staverman |
Philadelphia 76ers | Gene Shue | Billy Cunningham |
Seattle SuperSonics | Bob Hopkins | Lenny Wilkens |
Final standingsβ»
By divisionβ»
W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
y-Philadelphia 76ers | 55 | 27 | .671 | β | 37β4 | 18β23 | 14β2 |
x-New York Knicks | 43 | 39 | .524 | 12 | 29β12 | 14β27 | 7β9 |
Boston Celtics | 32 | 50 | .390 | 23 | 24β17 | 8β33 | 8β8 |
Buffalo Braves | 27 | 55 | .329 | 28 | 20β21 | 7β34 | 7β9 |
New Jersey Nets | 24 | 58 | .293 | 31 | 18β23 | 6β35 | 4β12 |
W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
y-San Antonio Spurs | 52 | 30 | .634 | β | 32β9 | 20β21 | 15β5 |
x-Washington Bullets | 44 | 38 | .537 | 8 | 29β12 | 15β26 | 14β6 |
x-Cleveland Cavaliers | 43 | 39 | .524 | 9 | 27β14 | 16β25 | 9β11 |
x-Atlanta Hawks | 41 | 41 | .500 | 11 | 29β12 | 12β29 | 8β12 |
New Orleans Jazz | 39 | 43 | .476 | 13 | 27β14 | 12β29 | 8β12 |
Houston Rockets | 28 | 54 | .341 | 24 | 21-20 | 7-34 | 6β14 |
W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
y-Denver Nuggets | 48 | 34 | .585 | β | 33β8 | 15β26 | 11β9 |
x-Milwaukee Bucks | 44 | 38 | .537 | 4 | 28β13 | 16β25 | 14β6 |
Chicago Bulls | 40 | 42 | .488 | 8 | 29β12 | 11β30 | 8β12 |
Detroit Pistons | 38 | 44 | .463 | 10 | 24β17 | 14β27 | 8β12 |
Indiana Pacers | 31 | 51 | .378 | 17 | 21β20 | 10β31 | 8β12 |
Kansas City Kings | 31 | 51 | .378 | 17 | 22β19 | 9β32 | 11β9 |
W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
y-Portland Trail Blazers | 58 | 24 | .707 | β | 36β5 | 22β19 | 13β3 |
x-Phoenix Suns | 49 | 33 | .598 | 9 | 34β7 | 15β26 | 8β8 |
x-Seattle SuperSonics | 47 | 35 | .573 | 11 | 31β10 | 16β25 | 8β8 |
x-Los Angeles Lakers | 45 | 37 | .549 | 13 | 29β12 | 16β25 | 6β10 |
Golden State Warriors | 43 | 39 | .524 | 15 | 30β11 | 13β28 | 5β11 |
By conferenceβ»
# | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | PCT | GB | |
1 | z-Philadelphia 76ers | 55 | 27 | .671 | β |
2 | y-San Antonio Spurs | 52 | 30 | .634 | 3 |
3 | x-Washington Bullets | 44 | 38 | .537 | 11 |
4 | x-Cleveland Cavaliers | 43 | 39 | .524 | 12 |
5 | x-New York Knicks | 43 | 39 | .524 | 12 |
6 | x-Atlanta Hawks | 41 | 41 | .500 | 14 |
7 | New Orleans Jazz | 39 | 43 | .476 | 16 |
8 | Boston Celtics | 32 | 50 | .390 | 23 |
9 | Houston Rockets | 28 | 54 | .341 | 27 |
10 | Buffalo Braves | 27 | 55 | .329 | 28 |
11 | New Jersey Nets | 24 | 58 | .293 | 31 |
# | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | PCT | GB | |
1 | z-Portland Trail Blazers | 58 | 24 | .707 | β |
2 | y-Denver Nuggets | 48 | 34 | .585 | 10 |
3 | x-Phoenix Suns | 49 | 33 | .598 | 9 |
4 | x-Seattle SuperSonics | 47 | 35 | .573 | 11 |
5 | x-Los Angeles Lakers | 45 | 37 | .549 | 13 |
6 | x-Milwaukee Bucks | 44 | 38 | .537 | 14 |
7 | Golden State Warriors | 43 | 39 | .524 | 15 |
8 | Chicago Bulls | 40 | 42 | .488 | 18 |
9 | Detroit Pistons | 38 | 44 | .463 | 20 |
10 | Indiana Pacers | 31 | 51 | .378 | 27 |
11 | Kansas City Kings | 31 | 51 | .378 | 27 |
Notes
- z, y β division champions
- x β clinched playoff spot
Playoffsβ»
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | ||||||||||||||||
E1 | Philadelphia* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E4 | Cleveland | 0 | E5 | New York | 0 | ||||||||||||||
E5 | New York | 2 | Eastern Conference | E1 | Philadelphia* | 2 | |||||||||||||
E3 | Washington | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Washington | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Washington | 2 | E2 | San Antonio* | 2 | ||||||||||||||
E6 | Atlanta | 0 | E3 | Washington | 4 | ||||||||||||||
W4 | Seattle | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
W1 | Portland* | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
W4 | Seattle | 2 | W4 | Seattle | 4 | ||||||||||||||
W5 | Los Angeles | 1 | Western Conference | W4 | Seattle | 4 | |||||||||||||
W2 | Denver* | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
W6 | Milwaukee | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
W3 | Phoenix | 0 | W2 | Denver* | 4 | ||||||||||||||
W6 | Milwaukee | 2 |
- * Division winner
- Bold Series winner
- Italic Team with home-court advantage
Statistics leadersβ»
Category | Player | Team | Stat |
---|---|---|---|
Points per game | George Gervin | San Antonio Spurs | 27.2 |
Rebounds per game | Truck Robinson | New Orleans Jazz | 15.7 |
Assists per game | Kevin Porter | DetroitβNew Jersey | 10.2 |
Steals per game | Ron Lee | Phoenix Suns | 2.74 |
Blocks per game | George Johnson | New Jersey Nets | 3.38 |
FG% | Bobby Jones | Denver Nuggets | .578 |
FT% | Rick Barry | Golden State Warriors | .924 |
NBA awardsβ»
- Most Valuable Player: Bill Walton, Portland Trail Blazers
- Rookie of the Year: Walter Davis, Phoenix Suns
- Coach of the Year: Hubie Brown, Atlanta Hawks
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See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ McCollum, Sean (2019). Pro Basketball's All-Time Greatest Comebacks. United States: Capstone Press. ISBN 9781543554335. Retrieved June 29, 2020.