1979 NBA Playoffs

1979 NBA playoffs

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The 1979 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association’s 1978–79 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. The Sonics (later the Oklahoma City Thunder) earned their first (and as of 2016, only) NBA title. Dennis Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP.

The Finals was a rematch of 1978, in which Washington defeated Seattle 4–3. As of 2016, the Bullets (later the Wizards) have not returned to the Finals, nor even to the Conference Finals.

The Spurs made their first visit to the Conference Finals in these playoffs.

This was the first time that three of the former ABA teams made the playoffs, as it was the NBA playoff debut of the New Jersey Nets.

Bracket

1st Round			Conference Semifinals			Conference Finals			NBA Finals


			1	Seattle	4

			5	Los Angeles	1
4	Denver	1

5	Los Angeles	2
						1	Seattle	4
Western Conference
						3	Phoenix	3
3	Phoenix	2

6	Portland	1
			3	Phoenix	4

			2	Kansas City	1



									W1	Seattle	4

									E1	Washington	1



			1	Washington	4

			5	Atlanta	3
4	Houston	0

5	Atlanta	2
						1	Washington	4
Eastern Conference
						2	San Antonio	3
3	Philadelphia	2

6	New Jersey	0
			3	Philadelphia	3

			2	San Antonio	4

Western Conference

Champion: Seattle SuperSonics

1st Round

(1) Seattle SuperSonics & (2) Kansas City Kings have first round byes.

(3) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Portland Trail Blazers: Suns win series 2–1

Game 1 @ Phoenix (April 10): Phoenix 107, Portland 103
Game 2 @ Portland (April 13): Portland 96, Phoenix 92
Game 3 @ Phoenix (April 15): Phoenix 101, Portland 91

(4) Denver Nuggets vs. (5) Los Angeles Lakers: Lakers win series 2–1

Game 1 @ Denver (April 10): Denver 110, Los Angeles 105
Game 2 @ Los Angeles (April 13): Los Angeles 121, Denver 109
Game 3 @ Denver (April 15): Los Angeles 112, Denver 111

Conference Semifinals

(1) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (5) Los Angeles Lakers: Sonics win series 4–1

Game 1 @ Seattle (April 17): Seattle 112, Los Angeles 101
Game 2 @ Seattle (April 18): Seattle 108, Los Angeles 103 (OT)
Game 3 @ Los Angeles (April 20): Los Angeles 118, Seattle 112 (OT)
Game 4 @ Los Angeles (April 22): Seattle 117, Los Angeles 115
Game 5 @ Seattle (April 25): Seattle 106, Los Angeles 100

Last playoff meeting: 1978 Western Conference First Round (Seattle won 2–1)

(2) Kansas City Kings vs. (3) Phoenix Suns: Suns win series 4–1

Game 1 @ Phoenix (April 17): Phoenix 102, Kansas City 99
Game 2 @ Kansas City (April 20): Kansas City 111, Phoenix 91
Game 3 @ Phoenix (April 22): Phoenix 108, Kansas City 93
Game 4 @ Kansas City (April 25): Phoenix 108, Kansas City 94
Game 5 @ Phoenix (April 27): Phoenix 120, Kansas City 99

Conference Finals

(1) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (3) Phoenix Suns: Sonics win series 4–3

Game 1 @ Seattle (May 1): Seattle 108, Phoenix 93
Game 2 @ Seattle (May 4): Seattle 103, Phoenix 97
Game 3 @ Phoenix (May 6): Phoenix 113, Seattle 103
Game 4 @ Phoenix (May 8): Phoenix 100, Seattle 91
Game 5 @ Seattle (May 11): Phoenix 99, Seattle 93
Game 6 @ Phoenix (May 13): Seattle 106, Phoenix 105
Game 7 @ Seattle (May 17): Seattle 114, Phoenix 110

Last playoff meeting:1976 Western Conference Semifinals (Phoenix won 4–2)

Eastern Conference

Champion: Washington Bullets

(1) Washington Bullets & (2) San Antonio Spurs have first round byes.

(3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) New Jersey Nets: 76ers win series 2–0

Game 1 @ Philadelphia (April 11): Philadelphia 122, New Jersey 114
Game 2 @ New Jersey (April 13): Philadelphia 111, New Jersey 101

(4) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks: Hawks win series 2–0

Game 1 @ Houston (April 11): Atlanta 109, Houston 106
Game 2 @ Atlanta (April 13): Atlanta 100, Houston 91

Conference Semifinals

(1) Washington Bullets vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks: Bullets win series 4–3

Game 1 @ Washington (April 15): Washington 103, Atlanta 89
Game 2 @ Washington (April 17): Atlanta 107, Washington 99
Game 3 @ Atlanta (April 20): Washington 89, Atlanta 77
Game 4 @ Atlanta (April 22): Washington 120, Atlanta 118 (OT)
Game 5 @ Washington (April 24): Atlanta 107, Washington 103
Game 6 @ Atlanta (April 26): Atlanta 104, Washington 86
Game 7 @ Washington (April 29): Washington 100, Atlanta 94

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (3) Philadelphia 76ers: Spurs win series 4–3

Game 1 @ San Antonio (April 15): San Antonio 119, Philadelphia 106
Game 2 @ San Antonio (April 17): San Antonio 121, Philadelphia 120
Game 3 @ Philadelphia (April 20): Philadelphia 123, San Antonio 115
Game 4 @ Philadelphia (April 22): San Antonio 115, Philadelphia 112
Game 5 @ San Antonio (April 26): Philadelphia 120, San Antonio 97
Game 6 @ Philadelphia (April 29): Philadelphia 92, San Antonio 90 (Maurice Cheeks hits game winning shot with 10 seconds remaining.)
Game 7 @ San Antonio (May 2): San Antonio 111, Philadelphia 108

Conference Finals

(1) Washington Bullets vs. (2) San Antonio Spurs: Bullets win series 4-3

Game 1 @ Washington (May 4): San Antonio 118, Washington 97
Game 2 @ Washington (May 6): Washington 115, San Antonio 95
Game 3 @ San Antonio (May 9): San Antonio 116, Washington 114
Game 4 @ San Antonio (May 11): San Antonio 118, Washington 102
Game 5 @ Washington (May 13): Washington 107, San Antonio 103
Game 6 @ San Antonio (May 16): Washington 108, San Antonio 100
Game 7 @ Washington (May 18): Washington 107, San Antonio 105 (Bob Dandridge hits series-winning shot with 8 seconds remaining; Washington becomes the 3rd team in NBA history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit.)

NBA Finals

Main article: 1979 NBA Finals

(1) Washington Bullets vs. (1) Seattle SuperSonics: Sonics win series 4-1

Game 1 @ Washington (May 20): Washington 99, Seattle 97 (Larry Wright makes the game winning free throws with one second remaining)
Game 2 @ Washington (May 24): Seattle 92, Washington 82
Game 3 @ Seattle (May 27): Seattle 105, Washington 95
Game 4 @ Seattle (May 29): Seattle 114, Washington 112 (OT: Dennis Johnson blocks Kevin Grevey with 4 seconds left to seal it)
Game 5 @ Washington (June 1): Seattle 97, Washington 93

External links

Basketball-Reference.com's 1979 NBA Playoffs page

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1978–79 NBA season by team

Eastern

Atlantic	Boston New Jersey New York Philadelphia Washington

Central	Atlanta Cleveland Detroit Houston New Orleans San Antonio

Western

Midwest	Chicago Denver Indiana Kansas City Milwaukee

Pacific	Golden State Los Angeles Phoenix Portland San Diego Seattle

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