# 1979 NBA Finals

The 1979 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series played at the conclusion of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1978–79 season. The Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics played the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets, with the Bullets holding home-court advantage, due to a better regular season record. The SuperSonics defeated the Bullets 4 games to 1. The series was a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals, which the Washington Bullets had won 4–3.
Dennis Johnson of the SuperSonics was named as the NBA Finals MVP, while Gus Williams of the SuperSonics was the top scorer, averaging 28.6 points per game.
This was Seattle's second men's professional sports championship, following the Seattle Metropolitans' victory in the 1917 Stanley Cup Finals. The city's next title wouldn't be until 2014 when the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII.
Both the 1978 and 1979 NBA Finals were informally dubbed the "George Washington series", because both teams were playing in places named after the first President of the United States (the SuperSonics represented Seattle, Washington while the Bullets represented Washington, D.C., albeit playing in nearby Landover, Maryland).
Until 2023, this was the most recent time that a Western Conference team not based in Texas or California has won an NBA title, and the last of only two occasions alongside the 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers when a team from the present-day Northwest Division has won the league title, which is by 27 years the longest league championship drought for any division of the four major North American sports leagues. Since then, the following Western teams have gone on to win an NBA title: the Los Angeles Lakers (eleven times), the San Antonio Spurs (five times), the Golden State Warriors (four times), the Houston Rockets (twice), and the Dallas Mavericks (once). The remaining twenty-one titles since 1980 have been won by Eastern Conference teams.

## Background

This was a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals, which the Bullets won 4–3. Seattle lost Marvin Webster to the New York Knicks but acquired Lonnie Shelton in exchange. Other than that, both teams' rosters stayed virtually intact. Unlike the previous year, both teams finished 1–2 in the NBA, with the Bullets topping the league at 54 wins; the Sonics with 52 wins. In the playoffs, Seattle defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4–1 and the Phoenix Suns 4–3, while Washington had a much tougher road, eliminating the Atlanta Hawks in an unexpectedly tough seven-game series and coming back from a 3–1 deficit to eliminate the San Antonio Spurs in seven. Both earned a first-round bye.

### Television

The Finals were carried by CBS television (the network's NBA on CBS aired league games from 1973 to 1990), with Brent Musburger as the lead announcer. The 1979 Finals has been preserved in full, unlike the previous year's, in which Games 2, 3 and 4 are missing. (Except for 1978, all NBA Finals since 1975 have been completely preserved.)

### Road to the Finals

| Seattle SuperSonics (Western Conference champion) | Seattle SuperSonics (Western Conference champion) | Washington Bullets (Eastern Conference champion) | Washington Bullets (Eastern Conference champion) |
| # Western Conferencevte Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Seattle SuperSonics5230.634– 2 y-Kansas City Kings4834.5854 3 x-Phoenix Suns5032.6102 4 x-Denver Nuggets4735.5735 5 x-Los Angeles Lakers4735.5735 6 x-Portland Trail Blazers4537.5497 7 San Diego Clippers4339.5249 8 Indiana Pacers3844.46314 9 Milwaukee Bucks3844.46314 10 Golden State Warriors3844.46314 11 Chicago Bulls3151.37821 1st seed in the West, 2nd best league record | Regular season | Regular season | # Eastern Conferencevte Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Washington Bullets5428.659– 2 y-San Antonio Spurs4834.5856 3 x-Philadelphia 76ers4735.5737 4 x-Houston Rockets4735.5737 5 x-Atlanta Hawks4636.5618 6 x-New Jersey Nets3745.45117 7 New York Knicks3151.37823 8 Cleveland Cavaliers3052.36624 8 Detroit Pistons3052.36624 10 Boston Celtics2953.35425 11 New Orleans Jazz2656.31728 1st seed in the East, best league record |
| Earned first-round bye | First Round | First Round | Earned first-round bye |
| Defeated the (5) Los Angeles Lakers, 4–1 | Conference Semifinals | Conference Semifinals | Defeated the (5) Atlanta Hawks, 4–3 |
| Defeated the (3) Phoenix Suns, 4–3 | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Defeated the (2) San Antonio Spurs, 4–3 |

### Regular season series

The teams split the four-game series in the regular season:
* October 25, 1978
* Kingdome, Seattle
* January 23, 1979
* Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland
* February 18, 1979
* Kingdome, Seattle
* February 23, 1979
* Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland

## Series summary

| Game | Date | Home team | Result | Road team |
| Game 1 | May 20 | Washington Bullets | 99–97 (1–0) | Seattle SuperSonics |
| Game 2 | May 24 | Washington Bullets | 82–92 (1–1) | Seattle SuperSonics |
| Game 3 | May 27 | Seattle SuperSonics | 105–95 (2–1) | Washington Bullets |
| Game 4 | May 29 | Seattle SuperSonics | 114–112 (3–1) | Washington Bullets |
| Game 5 | June 1 | Washington Bullets | 93–97 (1–4) | Seattle SuperSonics |

## Game summaries
### Game 1

* May 20
Seattle SuperSonics 97, Washington Bullets 99 :
| Scoring by quarter: 25–26, 25–33, 21–23, 26–17 |||
| Pts: Gus Williams 32 Rebs: John Johnson 11 Asts: Dennis Johnson 7 | Pts: Larry Wright 26 Rebs: Wes Unseld 12 Asts: Tom Henderson 6 |
| Washington leads the series, 1–0 |||
* Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland Attendance: 19,035 Referees:
* No. 10 Darell Garreson,
* No. 4 Ed T. Rush
* No. 18 Ed Middleton
The Bullets controlled the game and led by 18 in the fourth, but Seattle mounted a furious comeback to tie it at 97. Larry Wright, who had 26 points off the bench, drove to the basket as time ran down and had his shot blocked by Dennis Johnson, but the referees called a foul on Johnson. Wright went to the line with one second left and hit two of three foul shots (NBA rules at the time awarded an extra free throw attempt when a team was in the penalty foul situation) to win the game.

### Game 2

* May 24 9 p.m. EDT
Seattle SuperSonics 92, Washington Bullets 82 :
| Scoring by quarter: 28–23, 21–29, 19–14, 24–16 |||
| Pts: Gus Williams 23 Rebs: Jack Sikma 13 Asts: Dennis Johnson, John Johnson 6 each | Pts: Bob Dandridge 21 Rebs: Elvin Hayes 14 Asts: Bob Dandridge 5 |
| Series tied, 1–1 |||
* Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland Attendance: 19,035 Referees:
* No. 9 John Vanak
* No. 14 Jack Madden
* No. 19 Jim Capers
Elvin Hayes had 11 points in the first quarter, but only nine the rest of the way as Seattle turned its defense up a notch, holding the Bullets to 30 points in the second half.
Outside of the two metropolitan areas of the competing teams, as well as Baltimore and Portland, the game was shown on tape delay beginning at 11:35 Eastern and Pacific/10:35 p.m. Central and Mountain. This was the first of six championship series games shown by CBS on tape delay over a three-season span. Four of the six games in the championship series two years later were shown on tape delay outside of the markets of the competing clubs.

### Game 3

* May 27
Washington Bullets 95, Seattle SuperSonics 105 :
| Scoring by quarter: 25–31, 19–24, 22–26, 29–24 |||
| Pts: Bob Dandridge 28 Rebs: Unseld, Hayes 14 each Asts: Bob Dandridge 5 | Pts: Gus Williams 31 Rebs: Jack Sikma 17 Asts: Dennis Johnson 9 |
| Seattle leads the series, 2–1 |||
* Kingdome, Seattle, Washington Attendance: 35,928 Referees:
* No. 11 Jake O'Donnell
* No. 7 Joe Gushue
* No. 25 Hugh Evans
Seattle dominated this game, which wasn't as close as the final margin indicated. Gus Williams scored 31 points, Jack Sikma had 21 and 17 rebounds, and Dennis Johnson had a fine all-around game with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and two blocked shots.

### Game 4

* May 29
Washington Bullets 112, Seattle SuperSonics 114 (OT) :
| Scoring by quarter: 16–24, 37–28, 28–32, 23–20, Overtime: 8–10 |||
| Pts: Hayes, Grevey, Charles Johnson 18 each Rebs: Wes Unseld 16 Asts: Tom Henderson 8 | Pts: Gus Williams 36 Rebs: Jack Sikma 17 Asts: John Johnson 13 |
| Seattle leads the series, 3–1 |||
* Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington Attendance: 14,098 Referees:
* No. 15 Bob Rakel
* No. 8 Lee Jones
* No. 10 Darell Garretson
The Sonics won a close one in OT 114–112, staving off a late Bullets comeback behind 36 points by Gus Williams and 32 by Dennis Johnson. Williams and Johnson dominated the Bullets' guards all series, as they were plagued by poor shooting. Johnson also had four blocks in the game, the last on Kevin Grevey with 4 seconds left to ensure the Seattle victory.

### Game 5

* June 1
Seattle SuperSonics 97, Washington Bullets 93 :
| Scoring by quarter: 19–30, 24–21, 23–18, 31–24 |||
| Pts: Gus Williams 23 Rebs: Jack Sikma 17 Asts: John Johnson 6 | Pts: Elvin Hayes 29 Rebs: Elvin Hayes 14 Asts: Bob Dandridge 7 |
| Seattle wins the series, 4–1 |||
* Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland Attendance: 19,035 Referees:
* No. 11 Jake O'Donnell
* No. 7 Joe Gushue
* No. 22 Paul Mihalak
Back home, Elvin Hayes had a hot first half, scoring 20, but injuries to starting guards Tom Henderson, Kevin Grevey and prolonged poor shooting by their replacements took their toll. Hayes had only nine points in the second half as Seattle closed out the series.

## Player statistics
### Seattle SuperSonics

Seattle SuperSonics statistics :
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |

### Washington Bullets

Washington Wizards statistics :
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |