# 1973–74 Detroit Pistons season

The 1973–74 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 26th season in the NBA and 17th season in the city of Detroit. The team played at Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit.
The Pistons finished with a 52-30 (.634) record, 3rd place in the Midwest Division, only their second winning season since moving to Detroit in 1957. The team was led by guard Dave Bing (18.8 ppg, 6.9 apg, NBA All-Star) and center Bob Lanier (22.5 ppg, 13.3 rpg, NBA All-Star and NBA All-Star Game MVP). Pistons coach Ray Scott was recognized as the NBA Coach of the Year, the first black coach in the league to win the award. It wouldn't be until 1991 when Don Chaney won the award that another black coach was so honored.
Detroit advanced to the 1974 NBA Playoffs, the team's first playoff appearance since the 1967-68 Detroit Pistons season, losing the Western Conference semi-finals 4–3 to the Chicago Bulls, dropping the deciding 7th game 96–94 in Chicago. In the 7th game at Chicago Stadium, after a furious Detroit rally, Dennis Awtrey of the Bulls tipped an inbounds pass by Bing with 3 seconds remaining and Norm Van Lier dribbled out the clock to preserve the Chicago victory.

## Draft picks

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College / Team |
| 8 | 129 | Ben Kelso | Guard | United States | Central Michigan |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Midwest Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Neutral | Div |
| y-Milwaukee Bucks | 59 | 23 | .720 | – | 31–7 | 24–16 | 4–0 | 14–6 |
| x-Chicago Bulls | 54 | 28 | .659 | 5 | 32–9 | 21–19 | 1–0 | 13–7 |
| x-Detroit Pistons | 52 | 30 | .634 | 7 | 29–12 | 23–17 | 0–1 | 9–11 |
| Kansas City–Omaha Kings | 33 | 49 | .402 | 26 | 20–21 | 13–28 | – | 4–16 |
| # | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
| 1 | z-Milwaukee Bucks | 59 | 23 | .720 | – |
| 2 | x-Chicago Bulls | 54 | 28 | .659 | 5 |
| 3 | x-Detroit Pistons | 52 | 30 | .634 | 7 |
| 4 | y-Los Angeles Lakers | 47 | 35 | .573 | 12 |
| 5 | Golden State Warriors | 44 | 38 | .537 | 15 |
| 6 | Seattle SuperSonics | 36 | 46 | .439 | 23 |
| 7 | Kansas City–Omaha Kings | 33 | 49 | .402 | 26 |
| 8 | Phoenix Suns | 30 | 52 | .366 | 29 |
| 9 | Portland Trail Blazers | 27 | 55 | .329 | 32 |

### Record vs. opponents

1973–74 NBA Records :
| Team | ATL | BOS | BUF | CAP | CHI | CLE | DET | GSW | HOU | KCO | LAL | MIL | NYK | PHI | PHO | POR | SEA |
| Atlanta | — | 1–5 | 2–4 | 4–4 | 1–3 | 4–3 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 5–2 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| Boston | 5–1 | — | 5–2 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 5–2 | 7–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 |
| Buffalo | 4–2 | 2–5 | — | 3–3 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 4–4 | 6–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Capital | 4–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | — | 1–3 | 6–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Chicago | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | — | 4–0 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 4–0 | 5–2 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 4–2 |
| Cleveland | 3–4 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 1–6 | 0–4 | — | 2–2 | 0–4 | 4–4 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 2–2 |
| Detroit | 4–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–5 | 2–2 | — | 5–1 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 6–0 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| Golden State | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 1–5 | — | 4–0 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 5–2 | 3–4 | 3–3 |
| Houston | 2–5 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 3–4 | 0–4 | 4–4 | 1–3 | 0–4 | — | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 |
| Kansas City-Omaha | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–5 | 4–0 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–2 | — | 1–5 | 0–7 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 2–4 |
| Los Angeles | 0–4 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 5–1 | — | 4–2 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 4–3 |
| Milwaukee | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 7–0 | 2–4 | — | 2–2 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 6–0 | 4–2 |
| New York | 5–1 | 2–5 | 4–4 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | — | 4–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| Philadelphia | 3–3 | 1–7 | 1–6 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 3–4 | — | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–4 |
| Phoenix | 3–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 0–6 | 2–5 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 1–3 | 1–3 | — | 3–3 | 4–3 |
| Portland | 2–2 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 4–3 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 3–4 | 0–6 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–3 | — | 3–3 |
| Seattle | 0–4 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 4–0 | 3–4 | 3–3 | — |

### Game log
## Playoffs

1974 playoff game log :
Conference semifinals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 30
@ Chicago
W 97–88
Bob Lanier (27)
Lanier, Rowe (13)
Don Adams (6)
Chicago Stadium 10,711
1–0
2
April 1
Chicago
L 103–108
Bob Lanier (38)
Bob Lanier (19)
Dave Bing (7)
Cobo Arena 11,499
1–1
3
April 5
@ Chicago
L 83–84
Dave Bing (23)
Bob Lanier (16)
Lanier, Rowe (2)
Chicago Stadium 17,634
1–2
4
April 7
Chicago
W 102–87
Bob Lanier (26)
Bob Lanier (18)
Dave Bing (8)
Cobo Arena 11,287
2–2
5
April 9
@ Chicago
L 94–98
Bob Lanier (23)
Bob Lanier (17)
Dave Bing (6)
Chicago Stadium 14,236
2–3
6
April 11
Chicago
W 92–88
Bob Lanier (28)
Bob Lanier (14)
Dave Bing (10)
Cobo Arena 11,134
3–3
7
April 13
@ Chicago
L 94–96
Stu Lantz (25)
Lanier, Rowe (10)
Stu Lantz (5)
Chicago Stadium 13,133
3–4 :
1974 schedule :

## Player stats
### Season

| Player | Games Played | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks |
| Bob Lanier | 81 | 3047 | 1822 | 1074 | 343 | 110 | 247 |
| Dave Bing | 81 | 3124 | 1520 | 281 | 555 | 109 | 17 |
| Curtis Rowe | 82 | 2499 | 878 | 515 | 136 | 49 | 36 |
| George Trapp | 82 | 1489 | 765 | 313 | 81 | 47 | 33 |
| Don Adams | 74 | 2298 | 759 | 448 | 141 | 110 | 12 |
| John Mengelt | 77 | 1555 | 680 | 206 | 148 | 68 | 7 |
| Willie Norwood | 74 | 1178 | 589 | 229 | 58 | 60 | 9 |
| Chris Ford | 82 | 2059 | 585 | 304 | 279 | 148 | 14 |

## Awards and records

* Ray Scott, NBA Coach of the Year Award
* Dave Bing, All-NBA Second Team