# 1975–76 Golden State Warriors season

The 1975–76 Golden State Warriors season was the 31st season of NBA basketball in Oakland, California Coming off their NBA Championship, the Warriors finished with a then-franchise-best 59–23 record. The Warriors would however lose in the Western Conference finals to the upstart Phoenix Suns, four games to three. The Warriors’ franchise-best regular-season record would be surpassed when the team won the 2014–15 championship, but in between the Warriors would play thirty-eight seasons without even reaching the conference finals, the fourth-longest such drought in NBA history.

## Offseason
### Draft picks

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College |
| 1 | 14 | Joe Bryant | F | United States | La Salle |
| 2 | 20 | Gus Williams | G | United States | USC |
| 3 | 40 | Otis Johnson | F | United States | Stetson |
| 3 | 51 | Robert Hawkins | G | United States | Illinois State |
| 4 | 69 | Billy Taylor | F | United States | La Salle |
| 5 | 87 | Larry Pounds | | United States | Washington |
| 6 | 105 | Tony Styles | | United States | San Francisco |
| 7 | 123 | Stan Boyer | F | United States | Wyoming |
| 8 | 141 | Mike Rozenski | | United States | St. Mary's (CA) |
| 9 | 157 | Scott Trobbe | | United States | Stanford |
| 10 | 171 | Maurice Harper | | United States | St. Mary's (CA) |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| 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 |
| # | 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 |

### Record vs. opponents

1975–76 NBA Records :
| Team | ATL | BOS | BUF | CHI | CLE | DET | GSW | HOU | KCK | LAL | MIL | NOJ | NYK | PHI | PHO | POR | SEA | WAS |
| Atlanta | — | 2–3 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–5 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–5 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–5 |
| Boston | 3–2 | — | 4–3 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 4–3 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 |
| Buffalo | 3–2 | 3–4 | — | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 4–3 | 3–4 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–3 |
| Chicago | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | — | 0–4 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 1–6 | 3–2 | 3–4 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 0–4 |
| Cleveland | 5–2 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 4–0 | — | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 |
| Detroit | 3–1 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 2–2 | — | 0–5 | 2–2 | 5–2 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 |
| Golden State | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 5–0 | — | 2–2 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 3–1 |
| Houston | 5–2 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | — | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 0–4 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–4 |
| Kansas City | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 6–1 | 3–1 | 2–5 | 1–4 | 2–2 | — | 2–3 | 2–5 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–5 | 2–3 | 1–3 |
| Los Angeles | 3–1 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–5 | 3–1 | 3–2 | — | 2–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 1–3 |
| Milwaukee | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 4–3 | 0–4 | 4–3 | 0–5 | 2–2 | 5–2 | 3–2 | — | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| New Orleans | 4–2 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | — | 2–3 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 4–3 |
| New York | 2–3 | 2–5 | 3–4 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–2 | — | 5–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 3–2 |
| Philadelphia | 3–2 | 3–4 | 4–3 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–5 | — | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 2–3 |
| Phoenix | 4–0 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | — | 5–2 | 4–3 | 0–4 |
| Portland | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 0–4 | 3–2 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 5–0 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 2–5 | — | 3–3 | 2–2 |
| Seattle | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 3–4 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 3–3 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 3–3 | — | 1–3 |
| Washington | 5–1 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 4–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | — |

## Playoffs

In the playoffs, the Warriors returned to the Western Conference finals by beating the Detroit Pistons in 6 games. In the Western Finals, the Warriors faced the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors had a 2 games to 1 lead. Game 4 went in overtime and the Warriors were unable to grab a 3–1 series lead. The Suns would rally to win the game 133–129. The Warriors would bounce back to take Game 5, but the Suns would win Games 6 & 7 to stun the defending Champions.
1976 playoff game log :
Conference semifinals: 4–2 (home: 2–1; road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
April 20
Detroit
W 127–103
Phil Smith (26)
Clifford Ray (12)
Rick Barry (14)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
1–0
2
April 22
Detroit
L 111–123
Rick Barry (27)
Clifford Ray (12)
Rick Barry (8)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
1–1
3
April 24
@ Detroit
W 113–96
Phil Smith (34)
Jamaal Wilkes (18)
Rick Barry (10)
Cobo Arena 10,022
2–1
4
April 26
@ Detroit
L 102–106
Phil Smith (31)
Clifford Ray (8)
Rick Barry (6)
Cobo Arena 11,389
2–2
5
April 28
Detroit
W 128–109
Phil Smith (28)
Clifford Ray (14)
Rick Barry (11)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
3–2
6
April 30
@ Detroit
W 118–116 (OT)
Phil Smith (37)
three players tied (8)
Phil Smith (7)
Cobo Arena 10,361
4–2 :
Conference finals: 3–4 (home: 2–2; road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
May 2
Phoenix
W 128–103
Rick Barry (38)
Clifford Ray (11)
Gus Williams (6)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,475
1–0
2
May 5
Phoenix
L 101–108
Rick Barry (44)
George Johnson (11)
Rick Barry (4)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
1–1
3
May 7
@ Phoenix
W 99–91
Jamaal Wilkes (22)
Rick Barry (7)
Barry, Smith (6)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,306
2–1
4
May 9
@ Phoenix
L 129–133 (2OT)
Phil Smith (30)
Jamaal Wilkes (14)
Phil Smith (8)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,884
2–2
5
May 12
Phoenix
W 111–95
Phil Smith (25)
Clifford Ray (16)
Phil Smith (6)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
3–2
6
May 14
@ Phoenix
L 104–105
Rick Barry (30)
Clifford Ray (12)
Barry, Smith (6)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,396
3–3
7
May 16
Phoenix
L 86–94
Rick Barry (20)
Wilkes, Ray (13)
Phil Smith (6)
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067
3–4 :
1976 schedule :

## Awards and honors

* Rick Barry, All-NBA First Team
* Rick Barry, NBA All-Star Game
* Phil Smith, All-NBA Second Team
* Phil Smith, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
* Gus Williams, NBA All-Rookie Team First Team