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1978–79 Washington Bullets season

NBA professional basketball team season

NBA professional basketball team season

(lost to SuperSonics 1–4)

The 1978–79 Washington Bullets won their second consecutive Eastern Conference Championship, making it to the NBA Finals before losing to the Seattle SuperSonics. They finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA, at 54–28.

Coming off of their NBA Championship the previous season, the Bullets were transferred to the Atlantic Division. The Bullets would continue to remain one of the top teams in the league, as they captured the Atlantic Division championship with a league best record of 54–28. The Bullets ended the regular season losing 8 of their last 11 games, but rebounded in the playoffs with victories in both the Eastern Conference semifinals and Eastern Conference finals over the Atlanta Hawks and the San Antonio Spurs, respectively. The Bullets would proceed to have a 38-year drought without a division title until 2017; by then they had been renamed the Washington Wizards. This is the most recent appearance in the conference finals or NBA Finals for the franchise. This also remains the last 50-win season for Washington.

Since this season, the Bullets/Wizards have only won five playoff series, none beyond the first round.

Offseason

NBA draft

  • Round 1: Roger Phegley, Dave Corzine
  • Round 2: Terry Sykes (Never played in the NBA)
  • Round 4: Lawrence Boston

Roster

  • Dick Motta
  • Bernie Bickerstaff

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

Regular season

|- | 3 | | @ Philadelphia | W 121–111 | Johnson (19) | Unseld (11) | Henderson, Unseld (6) | Spectrum 12,065

3–0
6

| | @ Seattle | L 92–121 | Dandridge (16) | Ballard (9) | Dandridge (6) | Kingdome 15,089

4–2
9

| | Atlanta | L 108–110 | Dandridge (26) | Kupchak (10) | Unseld (10) | Capital Centre 5,487

4–5
11

| | San Antonio | W 124–119 | Hayes (28) | Hayes (14) | Henderson (11) | Capital Centre 12,619

6–5
13

| | Philadelphia | L 122–123 | Hayes (36) | Unseld (17) | Dandridge, Grevey, Henderson (5) | Capital Centre 14,697

7–6
14

| | @ San Antonio | L 124–143 | Kupchak (27) | Hayes (11) | Henderson (8) | HemisFair Arena 12,363

7–7
18

| | Denver | W 119–114 | Dandridge (19) | Hayes, Unseld (11) | Unseld (11) | Capital Centre 13,505

11–7
24

| | Kansas City | L 109–110 | Grevey (28) | Kupchak (13) | Henderson (11) | Capital Centre 14,297

16–8
28

| | Phoenix | W 101–98 | Dandridge (23) | Unseld (20) | Henderson (9) | Capital Centre 17,438

19–9
32

| | @ Phoenix | W 137–129 | Dandridge (36) | Hayes (11) | Henderson (13) | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 9,789

23–9
38

| | Phoenix | W 104–94 | Kupchak (25) | Hayes (26) | Henderson (10) | Capital Centre 14,929

26–12
39

| | @ Atlanta | W 106–102 | Hayes (26) | Hayes (13) | Wright (6) | The Omni 9,105

27–12
40

| | @ Denver | L 90–121 | Hayes (18) | Ballard, Corzine (8) | Dandridge (4) | McNichols Sports Arena 13,872

27–13
45

| | Seattle | L 100–103 | Dandridge (23) | Unseld (13) | Dandridge (7) | Capital Centre 15,232

31–14
47

| | @ Kansas City | L 128–142 | Hayes (28) | Hayes (13) | Unseld (6) | Kemper Arena 10,301

32–15
49

| | Atlanta | W 109–105 | Hayes (23) | Hayes (18) | Dandridge (6) | Capital Centre 14,398

34–15
50

| | @ San Antonio | W 123–122 | Dandridge (36) | Unseld (19) | Henderson (10) | HemisFair Arena 12,516 | 35–15 |- align="center" |- style="background:#cfc;"

- bgcolor="#bbffbb"
53

| | @ Philadelphia | L 99–107 | Dandridge (29) | Dandridge (17) | Dandridge (6) | Spectrum 15,151

37–16
55

| | @ Phoenix | L 108–119 | Dandridge (30) | Hayes (13) | Henderson (6) | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,660

38–17
57

| | @ Seattle | W 105–94 | Hayes (33) | Hayes (16) | Dandridge (7) | Kingdome 21,935

39–18
59

| | Seattle | W 132–110 | Hayes (32) | Unseld (13) | Tied (7) | Capital Centre 19,035

40–19
62

| | San Antonio | W 129–128 | Hayes (32) | Hayes (20) | Henderson (10) | Capital Centre 17,181

43–19
64

| | @ Kansas City | L 116–121 | Dandridge (38) | Dandridge (12) | Johnson, Unseld, Wright (3) | Kemper Arena 13,681

43–21
65

| | @ Denver | W 119–98 | Grevey (28) | Ballard, Unseld (11) | Wright (8) | McNichols Sports Arena 15,326

44–21
74

| | Philadelphia | L 97–100 | Hayes (23) | Unseld (16) | Unseld (7) | Capital Centre 18,741

50–24
77

| | Denver | W 105–89 | Hayes (30) | Hayes (18) | Wright (12) | Capital Centre 17,554

52–27
81

| | @ Atlanta | L 102–103 | Hayes (29) | Unseld (15) | Unseld (7) | The Omni 15,641 | 54–27

Playoffs

|- | 1 | | Atlanta | W 103–89 | Hayes (31) | Hayes (15) | Wright (6) | Capital Centre 15,721

1–0
2

| | Atlanta | L 99–107 | Dandridge (36) | Unseld (10) | Henderson (8) | Capital Centre 19,035

1–1
3

| | @ Atlanta | W 89–77 | Hayes (19) | Unseld (16) | Unseld (8) | The Omni 15,798

2–1
4

| | @ Atlanta | W 120–115 (OT) | Hayes (29) | Hayes (17) | Dandridge (5) | The Omni 15,798

3–1
5

| | Atlanta | L 103–107 | Hayes (26) | Hayes (14) | Henderson (11) | Capital Centre 19,035

3–2
6

| | @ Atlanta | L 86–104 | Hayes (24) | Unseld (12) | Unseld (6) | The Omni 15,978

3–3
7

| | Atlanta | W 100–94 | Hayes (39) | Hayes (15) | Dandridge (8) | Capital Centre 19,035

4–3
-
1

| | San Antonio | L 97–118 | Dandridge (25) | Hayes (20) | Henderson (5) | Capital Centre 19,035

0–1
2

| | San Antonio | W 115–95 | Unseld (26) | Unseld (22) | Henderson (9) | Capital Centre 19,035

1–1
3

| | @ San Antonio | L 114–116 | Dandridge (28) | Hayes (23) | Unseld (8) | HemisFair Arena 15,318

1–2
4

| | @ San Antonio | L 102–118 | Hayes (23) | Unseld (21) | Dandridge (9) | HemisFair Arena 16,055

1–3
5

| | San Antonio | W 107–103 | Hayes (24) | Hayes (22) | Henderson (9) | Capital Centre 19,035

2–3
6

| | @ San Antonio | W 108–100 | Hayes (25) | Hayes (14) | Dandridge, Henderson (8) | HemisFair Arena 16,055

3–3
7

| | San Antonio | W 107–105 | Dandridge (37) | Hayes (15) | Wright (7) | Capital Centre 19,035

4–3
-
1

| | Seattle | W 99–97 | Wright (26) | Unseld (12) | Henderson (6) | Capital Centre 19,035

1–0
2

| | Seattle | L 82–92 | Dandridge (21) | Hayes (14) | Dandridge (5) | Capital Centre 19,035

1–1
3

| | @ Seattle | L 95–105 | Dandridge (28) | Tied (14) | Dandridge (5) | Kingdome 35,928

1–2
4

| | @ Seattle | L 112–114 (OT) | Tied (18) | Unseld (16) | Henderson (8) | Seattle Center Coliseum 14,098

1–3
5

| | Seattle | L 93–97 | Hayes (29) | Hayes (14) | Dandridge (7) | Capital Centre 19,035

1–4

Awards and honors

  • Bob Ferry, NBA Executive of the Year Award
  • Elvin Hayes, All-NBA First Team
  • Bob Dandridge, All-NBA Second Team
  • Bob Dandridge, NBA All-Defensive First Team

References

References

  1. [http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/dc/wizards.html Washington Wizards (1963–Present)]
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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