1975–76 NBA season explained

1975–76 NBA season
League:	National Basketball Association
Sport:	Basketball
Duration:	October 23, 1975 – April 11, 1976 April 13 – May 18, 1976 (Playoffs) May 23 – June 6, 1976 (Finals)
No Of Games:	82
No Of Teams:	18
Tv:	CBS
Draft:	Draft
Draft Link:	1975 NBA Draft
Top Pick Link:	List of first overall NBA draft picks
Top Pick:	David Thompson
Picked By:	Atlanta Hawks
Season:	Regular season
Top Seed:	Golden State Warriors
Mvp:	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (L.A. Lakers)
Mvp Link:	NBA MVP
Top Scorer:	Bob McAdoo (Buffalo)
Playoffs:	Playoffs
Playoffs Link:	1976 NBA Playoffs
Conf1:	Eastern
Conf1 Link:	Eastern Conference (NBA)
Conf1 Champ:	Boston Celtics
Conf1 Runner-Up:	Cleveland Cavaliers
Conf2:	Western
Conf2 Link:	Western Conference (NBA)
Conf2 Champ:	Phoenix Suns
Conf2 Runner-Up:	Golden State Warriors
Finals:	Finals
Finals Link:	1976 NBA Finals
Finals Champ:	Boston Celtics
Finals Runner-Up:	Phoenix Suns
Finals Mvp:	Jo Jo White (Boston)
Finals Mvp Link:	NBA Finals MVP
Seasonslist:	List of NBA seasons
Seasonslistnames:	NBA
Prevseason Link:	1974–75 NBA season
Prevseason Year:	1974–75
Nextseason Link:	1976–77 NBA season
Nextseason Year:	1976–77

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.^[1]
The 1976 NBA All-Star Game was played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, with the Eastern Conference beating the Western Conference 123–109.^[2] Dave Bing of the Washington Bullets wins the game's MVP award.^[2]
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.

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

Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Atlantic	Boston Celtics	Boston, Massachusetts	Boston Garden	13,909
	Buffalo Braves	Buffalo, New York	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium	15,280
	New York Knicks	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	19,812
	Philadelphia 76ers	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	The Spectrum	18,176
Central	Atlanta Hawks	Atlanta, Georgia	Omni Coliseum	16,378
	Cleveland Cavaliers	Richfield, Ohio	Richfield Coliseum	20,900
	Houston Rockets	Houston, Texas	The Summit	16,285
	New Orleans Jazz	New Orleans, Louisiana	Louisiana Superdome	55,675
	Washington Bullets	Landover, Maryland	Capital Centre	18,756

Midwest	Chicago Bulls	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Stadium	18,676
	Detroit Pistons	Detroit, Michigan	Cobo Arena	12,191
	Kansas City Kings	Kansas City, Missouri	Kemper Arena	16,700
	Milwaukee Bucks	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	MECCA Arena	10,783
Pacific	Golden State Warriors	Oakland, California	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena	12,787
	Los Angeles Lakers	Inglewood, California	The Forum	17,505
	Phoenix Suns	Phoenix, Arizona	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum	14,870
	Portland Trail Blazers	Portland, Oregon	Memorial Coliseum	12,888
	Seattle SuperSonics	Seattle, Washington	Seattle Center Coliseum	17,072

Map of teams

Final standings

By conference

Notes

z, y – division champions
x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

See main article: 1976 NBA playoffs.

Statistics leaders


Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game			31.1
Rebounds per game			16.9
Assists per game			8.1
Steals per game	Slick Watts	Seattle SuperSonics	3.18
Blocks per game	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Los Angeles Lakers	4.12
FG%			.561
FT%			.923