The 1984–85 NBA season was the 39th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the Boston Celtics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals.
The 1985 NBA All-Star Game was played at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, with the West defeating the East 140–129. Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets won the game's MVP award. Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks won the Slam Dunk Contest.
Michael Jordan became the only rookie in NBA history to lead a team in four statistics (points, assists, rebounds, steals).
The Clippers relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles. This created a distinction whereby two teams of the same host name (the other Los Angeles team are the Lakers) are in the same division (Pacific), similar to the one in the NHL where the Patrick Division (now succeeded by the Metropolitan Division) had two teams of the same host name which is New York (Islanders and Rangers). There was also a similar scenario which only existed in the 1976–77 season, in which the Atlantic Division had New York Knicks and Nets (which was located in New Jersey from 1977 to 2012 but is currently in Brooklyn).
Turner Broadcasting began a relationship with the NBA that continues today when TBS signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the NBA.
The Kings played their final game in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved their franchise to Sacramento the following season. In one of their final home games, Knicks forward Bernard King, who finished the year as the scoring champion, ruptured his ACL in his right knee and was out of action for two years. King would come back in 1987, but would not return to the All-Star Game until 1991.
This season marked Michael Jordan's, Akeem Olajuwon's, Charles Barkley's and John Stockton's rookie seasons in the NBA.
Due to a roof collapse at the Pontiac Silverdome, the Pistons were forced to rent the Joe Louis Arena, home of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs.
At age 38, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the oldest player to win the honor of Finals MVP. Jabbar's team, the Lakers, became the first visiting team to win the NBA title at Boston Garden, beating their archrivals, the Boston Celtics, in six games.
The Finals adopted the 2-3-2 format which was used through the 2013 NBA Finals after which the league returned to the 2–2–1–1–1 format.
The Cleveland Cavaliers returned to the playoffs after a seven-year absence. They were eliminated by the Celtics in four games. They would not make the playoffs again until 1988. The Cavaliers were coached by George Karl, then making his NBA coaching debut.
At New Orleans' Lakefront Arena (where the Atlanta Hawks played 12 of 41 home games that season), Larry Bird scored a Celtics' franchise record 60 points in Boston's 126–115 victory over the Hawks on March 12. Bird broke the previous franchise record set by teammate Kevin McHale (56) nine days earlier at Boston Garden against the Pistons.
The Denver Nuggets made the conference finals for the first time since 1978, losing 4-1 to the Lakers. They would not make the conference finals again until 2009, which they lost to the Lakers again. The series marked the end of Dan Issel's playing career, having played 15 professional seasons and averaging 22.6 points and 9.1 rebounds in his career.
Notes
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
x – Clinched playoff spot
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
Most Valuable Player: Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
Rookie of the Year: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
Defensive Player of the Year: Mark Eaton, Utah Jazz
Sixth Man of the Year: Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics
Coach of the Year: Don Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks
All-NBA First Team:
F – Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
F – Bernard King, New York Knicks
C – Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
G – Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons
G – Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
All-NBA Second Team:
F – Terry Cummings, Milwaukee Bucks
F – Ralph Sampson, Houston Rockets
C – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers
G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
G – Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
All-NBA Rookie Team:
Charles Barkley, Philadelphia 76ers
Sam Perkins, Dallas Mavericks
Akeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
Sam Bowie, Portland Trail Blazers
Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
NBA All-Defensive First Team:
Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
Paul Pressey, Milwaukee Bucks
Mark Eaton, Utah Jazz
Michael Cooper, Los Angeles Lakers
Maurice Cheeks, Philadelphia 76ers
NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers
Danny Vranes, Seattle SuperSonics
Akeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
Dennis Johnson, Boston Celtics
T. R. Dunn, Denver Nuggets
Note: All above information were obtained on the History section on NBA.com
The following players were named NBA Player of the Week.
The following players were named NBA Player of the Month.
The following players were named NBA Rookie of the Month.
The following coaches were named NBA Coach of the Month.
