# 1975–76 NBA season

The 1975–76 NBA season was the 30th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals.

## Notable occurrences

* Larry O'Brien begins his tenure as the league's third commissioner.
* The jump ball to start the second, third and fourth quarters is eliminated. The winner of the opening jump ball receives possession at the beginning of the fourth, with the opposing team starting the middle periods with possession.
* The 1976 NBA All-Star Game was played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, with the Eastern Conference beating the Western Conference 123–109. Dave Bing of the Washington Bullets wins the game's MVP award.
* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings are renamed the Kansas City Kings as they settle into a permanent home in Kansas City, Missouri.
* The New Orleans Jazz moved into the cavernous Louisiana Superdome after splitting their inaugural season between two inadequate facilities, the Loyola University Fieldhouse and New Orleans Municipal Auditorium.
* The Houston Rockets play their inaugural season in The Summit.
* It was the final season for Don Nelson, Pat Riley and Jerry Sloan as players. Each would go on to coach more than 2,000 games in the NBA.
* This was the final season before the NBA-ABA merger. In the 1976 offseason, four ABA teams joined the NBA: the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, and the reigning ABA champion New York Nets, who relocated to New Jersey.
* It was the first season for Darryl Dawkins, World B. Free, and Kobe Bryant's dad Joe Bryant.
* Dick Bavetta began his Hall of Fame officiating career, replacing the retired Mendy Rudolph, who suffered a blood clot in his lung during a 1975 playoff game and became an analyst for CBS Sports. Bavetta went on to set the record for most games officiated with 2,635 by the time he retired in 2014.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named the league's Most Valuable Player despite his team missing the playoffs. He remains the only league MVP to miss the playoffs.
* The NBA Finals were contested by the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns. Phoenix was making their first finals appearance; Boston was making their fourteenth.
* Game 4 of the NBA Finals was first game ever played in the month of June.
* Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Suns went into triple-overtime before the Celtics prevailed 128–126. This was the first triple-overtime game in NBA finals history; the only triple-overtime finals game since occurred in 1993, in which the Phoenix Suns were again participating.
Coaching changes :
| Offseason |||
| Team | 1974–75 coach | 1975–76 coach |
| N/A |||
| In-season |||
| Team | Outgoing coach | Incoming coach |
| Atlanta Hawks | Cotton Fitzsimmons | Bumper Tormohlen |
| Detroit Pistons | Ray Scott | Herb Brown |

## Teams

1975-76 National Basketball Association :
| Eastern Conference |||||
| Division | Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
| Atlantic | Boston Celtics | Boston, Massachusetts | Boston Garden | 13,909 |
| Atlantic | Buffalo Braves | Buffalo, New York | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 15,280 |
| Atlantic | New York Knicks | New York, New York | Madison Square Garden | 19,812 |
| Atlantic | Philadelphia 76ers | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | The Spectrum | 18,176 |
| Central | Atlanta Hawks | Atlanta, Georgia | Omni Coliseum | 16,378 |
| Central | Cleveland Cavaliers | Richfield, Ohio | Richfield Coliseum | 20,900 |
| Central | Houston Rockets | Houston, Texas | The Summit | 16,285 |
| Central | New Orleans Jazz | New Orleans, Louisiana | Louisiana Superdome | 55,675 |
| Central | Washington Bullets | Landover, Maryland | Capital Centre | 18,756 |
| Western Conference |||||
| Midwest | Chicago Bulls | Chicago, Illinois | Chicago Stadium | 18,676 |
| Midwest | Detroit Pistons | Detroit, Michigan | Cobo Arena | 12,191 |
| Midwest | Kansas City Kings | Kansas City, Missouri | Kemper Arena | 16,700 |
| Midwest | Milwaukee Bucks | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | MECCA Arena | 10,783 |
| Pacific | Golden State Warriors | Oakland, California | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena | 12,787 |
| Pacific | Los Angeles Lakers | Inglewood, California | The Forum | 17,505 |
| Pacific | Phoenix Suns | Phoenix, Arizona | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 14,870 |
| Pacific | Portland Trail Blazers | Portland, Oregon | Memorial Coliseum | 12,888 |
| Pacific | Seattle SuperSonics | Seattle, Washington | Seattle Center Coliseum | 14,096 |

## Final standings
### By division

| Atlantic Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div |
| y-Boston Celtics | 54 | 28 | .659 | – | 31–10 | 23–18 | 13–8 |
| x-Philadelphia 76ers | 46 | 36 | .561 | 8 | 34–7 | 12–29 | 9–12 |
| x-Buffalo Braves | 46 | 36 | .561 | 8 | 28–14 | 18–22 | 10–11 |
| New York Knicks | 38 | 44 | .463 | 16 | 24–17 | 14–27 | 10–11 |
| Central Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div |
| y-Cleveland Cavaliers | 49 | 33 | .598 | – | 29–12 | 20–21 | 15–11 |
| x-Washington Bullets | 48 | 34 | .585 | 1 | 31–10 | 17–24 | 14–12 |
| Houston Rockets | 40 | 42 | .488 | 9 | 27–13 | 13–29 | 14–12 |
| New Orleans Jazz | 38 | 44 | .463 | 11 | 22–19 | 16–25 | 15–11 |
| Atlanta Hawks | 29 | 53 | .354 | 20 | 20–21 | 9–32 | 7–19 |
| Midwest Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div |
| y-Milwaukee Bucks | 38 | 44 | .463 | – | 22–19 | 16–25 | 13–8 |
| x-Detroit Pistons | 36 | 46 | .439 | 2 | 24–17 | 12–29 | 12–9 |
| Kansas City Kings | 31 | 51 | .378 | 7 | 25–16 | 6–35 | 10–11 |
| Chicago Bulls | 24 | 58 | .293 | 14 | 15–26 | 9–32 | 7–14 |
| Pacific Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div |
| y-Golden State Warriors | 59 | 23 | .720 | – | 36–5 | 23–18 | 17–9 |
| x-Seattle SuperSonics | 43 | 39 | .524 | 16 | 31–10 | 12–29 | 12–14 |
| x-Phoenix Suns | 42 | 40 | .512 | 17 | 27–14 | 15–26 | 15–11 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 40 | 42 | .488 | 19 | 31–11 | 9–31 | 10–16 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 37 | 45 | .451 | 22 | 25–15 | 12–30 | 11–15 |

### By conference

| # | Eastern Conferencevte | Eastern Conferencevte | Eastern Conferencevte | Eastern Conferencevte | Eastern Conferencevte |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
| 1 | z-Boston Celtics | 54 | 28 | .659 | – |
| 2 | y-Cleveland Cavaliers | 49 | 33 | .598 | 5 |
| 3 | x-Washington Bullets | 48 | 34 | .585 | 6 |
| 4 | x-Philadelphia 76ers | 46 | 36 | .561 | 8 |
| 5 | x-Buffalo Braves | 46 | 36 | .561 | 8 |
| 6 | Houston Rockets | 40 | 42 | .488 | 14 |
| 7 | New York Knicks | 38 | 44 | .463 | 16 |
| 8 | New Orleans Jazz | 38 | 44 | .463 | 16 |
| 9 | Atlanta Hawks | 29 | 53 | .354 | 25 |
| # | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte | Western Conferencevte |
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
| 1 | z-Golden State Warriors | 59 | 23 | .720 | – |
| 2 | x-Seattle SuperSonics | 43 | 39 | .524 | 16 |
| 3 | x-Phoenix Suns | 42 | 40 | .512 | 17 |
| 4 | y-Milwaukee Bucks | 38 | 44 | .463 | 21 |
| 5 | x-Detroit Pistons | 36 | 46 | .439 | 23 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Lakers | 40 | 42 | .488 | 19 |
| 7 | Portland Trail Blazers | 37 | 45 | .451 | 22 |
| 8 | Kansas City Kings | 31 | 51 | .378 | 28 |
| 9 | Chicago Bulls | 24 | 58 | .293 | 35 |
Notes
* z, y – division champions
* x – clinched playoff spot

## Playoffs

| First Round | First Round | First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | NBA Finals | NBA Finals |
| | | | E1 | Boston* | 4 | | | | | | |
| E4 | Philadelphia | 1 | E5 | Buffalo | 2 | | | | | | |
| E5 | Buffalo | 2 | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E1 | Boston* | 4 | | | |
| | | | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | Eastern Conference | E2 | Cleveland* | 2 | | | |
| | | | E3 | Washington | 3 | | | | | | |
| | | | E2 | Cleveland* | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | E1 | Boston* | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | | W3 | Phoenix | 2 |
| | | | W1 | Golden State* | 4 | | | | | | |
| W4 | Milwaukee* | 1 | W5 | Detroit | 2 | | | | | | |
| W5 | Detroit | 2 | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W1 | Golden State* | 3 | | | |
| | | | Western Conference | Western Conference | Western Conference | W3 | Phoenix | 4 | | | |
| | | | W3 | Phoenix | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | W2 | Seattle | 2 | | | | | | |
* * Division winner
* Bold Series winner
* Italic Team with home-court advantage

## Statistics leaders

| Category | Player | Team | Stat |
| Points per game | Bob McAdoo | Buffalo Braves | 31.1 |
| Rebounds per game | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Los Angeles Lakers | 16.9 |
| Assists per game | Slick Watts | Seattle SuperSonics | 8.1 |
| Steals per game | Slick Watts | Seattle SuperSonics | 3.18 |
| Blocks per game | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Los Angeles Lakers | 4.12 |
| FG% | Wes Unseld | Washington Bullets | .561 |
| FT% | Rick Barry | Golden State Warriors | .923 |

## NBA awards

* Most Valuable Player: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers
* Rookie of the Year: Alvan Adams, Phoenix Suns
* Coach of the Year: Bill Fitch, Cleveland Cavaliers