1979 NBA playoffs
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 earned their only NBA title. Dennis Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP.
| Dates | April 10–June 1, 1979 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1978–79 | ||
| Teams | 12 | ||
| Champions | Seattle SuperSonics (1st title) | ||
| Runners-up | Washington Bullets (4th finals appearance) | ||
| Semifinalists | |||
| |||
The Finals was a rematch of 1978, in which Washington defeated Seattle 4–3. As of the 2018–19 season, this remains the last time the Bullets (now the Wizards) have advanced as far as 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.
This was the first time both conference finals went to a deciding Game 7 since 1963 and the last until 2018.
Bracket
| First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | |||||||||||||||
| E4 | Houston | 0 | E1 | Washington* | 4 | |||||||||||||
| E5 | Atlanta | 2 | E5 | Atlanta | 3 | |||||||||||||
| E1 | Washington* | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | San Antonio* | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 2 | E3 | Philadelphia | 3 | |||||||||||||
| E6 | New Jersey | 0 | E2 | San Antonio* | 4 | |||||||||||||
| E1 | Washington* | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Seattle* | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Denver | 1 | W1 | Seattle* | 4 | |||||||||||||
| W5 | Los Angeles | 2 | W5 | Los Angeles | 1 | |||||||||||||
| W1 | Seattle* | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Phoenix | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Phoenix | 2 | W3 | Phoenix | 4 | |||||||||||||
| W6 | Portland | 1 | W2 | Kansas City* | 1 | |||||||||||||
* Division winner
Bold Series winner
Italic Team with home-court advantage
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 (This would be the last playoff series for Los Angeles without Magic Johnson until 1992)
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 @ Tempe (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
(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