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1978–79 Seattle SuperSonics season

NBA professional basketball team season (won Championship)

(defeated Bullets 4–1) The 1978–79 Seattle SuperSonics season was the team's 12th since the franchise began, and their most successful, winning their only NBA title while being based in Seattle.

In the playoffs, the SuperSonics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the Semi-finals, then defeated the Phoenix Suns in seven games in the Conference Finals to reach the NBA Finals for a second consecutive season in a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals, facing the defending NBA champion Washington Bullets whom they had lost to in seven games. The Sonics would go on to avenge their NBA Finals loss and defeat the Bullets in five games, winning their first and only NBA championship. Dennis Johnson was named the NBA Finals MVP.

They would not reach another NBA Finals until 1996 in which they were led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. They also would not win another until 2025 as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This was Seattle's first professional sports championship since the Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917.

Off-season

Draft

Main article: 1978 NBA draft

Seattle SuperSonics	border=2}}" width="10%"	Round	Seattle SuperSonics	border=2}}" width="10%"	Pick	Seattle SuperSonics	border=2}}" width="20%"	Player	Seattle SuperSonics	border=2}}" width="15%"	Nationality	Seattle SuperSonics	border=2}}" width="20%"	School/Club team
2	39	James Lee		Kentucky
5	105	Ralph Drollinger		UCLA

Roster

Lenny Wilkens ()

Season standings

Game log

Regular season

1–0
2

2–0
3
October 17
@ New York
W 120–109
Three players (20)
Jack Sikma (12)
Four players (5)
Madison Square Garden
10,155
3–0
-
4
October 18
@ Indiana
W 99–92
Dennis Johnson (20)
Tom LaGarde (15)
Four players (3)
Market Square Arena
7,683
4–0
-
5

5–0
6

6–0
7
October 27
Milwaukee
W 80–79
Fred Brown (20)
Jack Sikma (13)
Fred Brown (3)
Kingdome
19,060
7–0
-
8
October 29
@ San Diego
L 100–103
John Johnson (20)
Jack Sikma (11)
Jack Sikma. John Johnson (3)
San Diego Sports Arena
9,469
7–1
-
9
November 2
@ Detroit
W 95–94

| | | |

8–1
10
November 3
@ New Jersey
W 102–81

| | | |

9–1
11
November 8
New York
L 100–104

| | | |

9–2
12
November 10
Cleveland
W 109–95

| | | |

10–2
13
November 15
New Orleans
W 135–118

| | | |

11–2
14
November 17
Indiana
W 126–115

| | | |

12–2
15
November 18
@ Golden State
L 104–112

| | | |

12–3
16
November 19
Portland
W 88–85

| | | |

13–3
17
November 22
Chicago
W 98–96

| | | |

14–3
18
November 24
Denver
L 100–103

| | | |

14–4
19
November 25
@ Denver
W 110–104

| | | |

15–4
20
November 26
Houston
L 103–108

| | | |

15–5
21
November 29
New Jersey
W 125–111

| | | |

16–5
22
December 1
@ Boston
L 80–87

| | | |

16–6
23

17–6
24

18–6
25

19–6
26

20–6
27

20–7
28
December 17
@ Cleveland
L 91–101

| | | |

20–8
29
December 19
@ Milwaukee
L 99–128

| | | |

20–9
30

20–10
31

20–11
32
December 25
San Diego
L 118–123

| | | |

20–12
33
December 27
New Orleans
W 122–103

| | | |

21–12
34

22–12
35
January 1
Golden State
L 97–110

| | | |

22–13
36
January 2
@ Portland
W 109–108

| | | |

23–13
37
January 3
Boston
W 123–116

| | | |

24–13
38
January 5
Denver
L 92–95

| | | |

24–14
39
January 10
Indiana
W 118–98

| | | |

25–14
40

26–14
41

26–15
42
January 17
@ Indiana
W 112–102

| | | |

27–15
43
January 20
@ Chicago
W 107–101

| | | |

28–15
44

29–15
45

30–15
46

30–16
47
January 27
@ Houston
W 99–94

| | | |

31–16
48
January 31
Portland
W 115–112

| | | |

32–16
49
February 1
New Jersey
W 107–102

| | | |

33–16
50
February 2
Milwaukee
W 104–102

| | | | | 34–16

- align="center"
51
February 6
@ New York
L 99–108

| | | |

34–17
52
February 7
@ Boston
L 100–107

| | | |

34–18
53
February 9
@ Milwaukee
L 116–118 (OT)

| | | |

34–19
54
February 10
@ Houston
L 101–113

| | | |

34–20
55

35–20
56

36–20
57

36–21
58

36–22
59
February 21
@ New Orleans
W 96–94

| | | |

37–22
60

37–23
61

37–24
62
February 27
@ Denver
L 106–121

| | | |

37–25
63

38–25
64
March 2
Cleveland
L 109–111

| | | |

38–26
65
March 4
Houston
W 119–109

| | | |

39–26
66
March 7
@ Detroit
W 99–93

| | | |

40–26
67
March 9
@ New Jersey
W 108–100

| | | |

41–26
68

41–27
69

42–27
70
March 15
@ Cleveland
W 104–98

| | | |

43–27
71
March 17
@ Chicago
W 106–88

| | | |

44–27
72
March 22
Boston
W 112–110

| | | |

45–27
73

46–27
74
March 27
San Diego
W 115–109

| | | |

47–27
75
March 28
New York
W 111–105

| | | |

48–27
76

48–28
77
March 31
Detroit
W 123–102

| | | |

49–28
78
April 1
Golden State
W 102–97

| | | |

50–28
79
April 3
@ Portland
W 106–102

| | | |

50–29
80
April 4
@ San Diego
W 115–107

| | | |

51–29
81

52–29
82
April 8
@ Golden State
L 86–89

| | | | | 52–30

Playoffs

The SuperSonics had a first round bye, then defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-finals, the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals, and the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals. Dennis Johnson of the SuperSonics was the Most Valuable Player of the Finals while teammate Gus Williams was the leading scorer, averaging 28.6 points per game.

1–0
2

2–0
3

2–1
4

3–1
5

4–1
1

1–0
2

2–0
3

2–1
4

2–2
5

2–3
6

3–3
7

4–3
1

0–1
2

1–1
3

2–1
4

3–1
5

Awards and records

Dennis Johnson, NBA All-Defensive First Team
Dennis Johnson, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player

References

SuperSonics on Basketball Reference

References

"1979 NBA Finals - SuperSonics vs. Bullets".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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