1975–76 NBA season

Updated on Sep 22, 2024

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Sport Basketball Eastern champions Boston Celtics Western champions Phoenix Suns Start date 1975 Number of teams 18		TV partner(s) CBS Eastern runners-up Cleveland Cavaliers Champion Boston Celtics Number of games 82
League National Basketball Association Top scorer Bob McAdoo (Buffalo Braves) Season MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) Similar 1987–88 NBA season, 1992–93 NBA season, 1998–99 NBA season

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.

The 1976 NBA All-Star Game was played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, with the East beating the West 123–109. Dave Bing of the Washington Bullets wins the game's MVP award.

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 (now the Lakewood Church Central Campus).

Game 4 of the NBA Finals was first game ever played in the month of June.

Arguably the greatest NBA game ever played occurred in Game 5 of the NBA Finals when the Celtics and the Suns went into triple-overtime before the Celtics prevailed 128-126. 17 years later, the Suns would be involved in another triple-overtime Finals game.

This was the final season before the NBA-ABA merger.

Dick Bavetta begins 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.

Notes

z, y – division champions

x – clinched playoff spot