1975 NBA playoffs
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The 1975 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1974–75 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals. Rick Barry was named NBA Finals MVP. The Warriors won their third NBA title and first since 1956 as the Philadelphia Warriors.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 8–May 25, 1975 |
| Season | 1974–75 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Golden State Warriors (3rd title) |
| Runner-up | Washington Bullets |
| Semifinalists | |
The playoff format was revised again, as the result of which the first two finishers in each division were guaranteed playoff berths, along with the best third-place team from each conference. Once each conference's qualifiers were selected, they were seeded 1–5, with the fourth and fifth seeds playing a best-of-three series, with the victor advancing to play the first seed in a best-of-seven semifinal, while the second and third seeds played the other semifinal.
The eight-year-old Seattle SuperSonics made their playoff debut, winning the first playoff series in franchise history against the Detroit Pistons. Seattle would go on to make consecutive NBA Finals appearances in 1978 and 1979, winning the championship the latter year.
The Kansas City-Omaha Kings made their first playoff appearance since 1967 as the Cincinnati Royals, and the Houston Rockets made their first playoff appearance since 1969 as the San Diego Rockets.
The 1975 playoffs expanded the number of playoff qualifiers to 10; it would be expanded again to 12 in 1977 and again to its current number of 16 in 1984.
At the time, this was the closest the Chicago Bulls came to an NBA title, losing to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals 4–3. This was their second and final Western Conference Finals appearance as they would move to the Eastern Conference in 1980. They would not reach the East Finals until 1989, and would not win a title until 1991.
| First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Boston* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | Houston | 2 | E4 | Houston | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| E5 | New York | 1 | Eastern Conference | E1 | Boston* | 2 | |||||||||||||
| E2 | Washington* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Buffalo | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Washington* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Washington* | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Seattle | 2 | W4 | Seattle | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| W5 | Detroit | 1 | Western Conference | W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||
| W2 | Chicago* | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Kansas City–Omaha | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Chicago* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
- * Division winner
- Bold Series winner
- Italic Team with home-court advantage
Eastern Conference first round
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[1]
Western Conference first round
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[2]
Conference semifinals
Eastern Conference semifinals
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[3]
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[4]
Western Conference semifinals
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[5]
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[6]
Eastern Conference finals
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[7]
Western Conference finals
- Chet Walker's final NBA game.
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[8]
NBA Finals: (E2) Washington Bullets vs. (W1) Golden State Warriors
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[9]
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Houston Rockets versus New York Knicks (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Detroit Pistons versus Oklahoma City Thunder (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Boston Celtics versus Houston Rockets (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Los Angeles Clippers versus Washington Wizards (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus Oklahoma City Thunder (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Chicago Bulls versus Sacramento Kings (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Boston Celtics versus Washington Wizards (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Chicago Bulls versus Golden State Warriors (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Golden State Warriors versus Washington Wizards (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.