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1978-79 NBA season

The Championship Run Of The 1979 Seattle Supersonics

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The 1979 Seattle Supersonics were both a franchise on the rise, as well as one that had a bitter taste in their mouths over the end of the previous season. Those two elements combined to make them NBA champions.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Seattle got its pro basketball team in 1968 and first made the playoffs in 1974 with the legendary Bill Russell as head coach. After Russell retired, the Supersonics began to slide backwards and after a 5-17 start in the 1977-78 season, a coaching change to Lenny Wilkens was made. Seattle closed with a fury, winning 42 of 60, and reaching the NBA Finals.

That team has a place in history, but not the one the fans or the organization were hoping for—the 1978 NBA Finals marks the last time a home team lost a Game 7 in the Finals. Seattle fell to the Washington Bullets and lost the championship. But there were still a team with a lot of young talent, and every reason to think the best was still ahead.

The good things started with a backcourt of Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson, ages 25 and 24 respectively. Williams was an explosive scorer, while D.J. a good one, along with being a good passer, a good rebounder and an exceptional defender. The third guard in the mix was Fred Brown, another player renowned for his ability to fill it up in a hurry.

In 1979, Williams averaged 19 points/4 assists per game, while Johnson averaged 16 points/5 rebounds/4 assists and was 1st-team All-NBA on defense.

Jack Sikma, age 23, was the cornerstone of the frontcourt and the center averaged 16 points a game, while his 12 boards a night ranked fifth in the league. He was a supported by strong depth up front, starting with newly acquired 23-year-old Lonnie Shelton, who averaged a 14/6.

More frontline depth came in the way of yet another 23-year-old Tom LaGarde, who posted an 11/8 average, and a proud veteran in 35-year-old Paul Silas who grabbed seven boards a night. And the versatile John Johnson played the small forward spot, chipping in 11 points per game.

Wilkens put it all together to lead Seattle to a 52-30 record, narrowly edging the Phoenix Suns for the Pacific Division title and the #1 seed in the Western Conference.

The structure of the NBA at the time split each conference into two divisions, and the playoff format was six teams per conference. The division winners got byes into the conference semis, while the other four teams played a best-of-three “mini-series.” Seattle took its brief rest and then drew a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles had the brighter stars. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had won the MVP award the previous two seasons and was only second-team All-NBA this season because Houston’s Moses Malone had an MVP year at center. The Lakers had great scorers in Norm Nixon, Jamaal Wilkes and Adrian Dantley.

But they were missing some Magic—an element that wouldn’t come until a year later, and the superior Supersonic guards began to set the tone for their dominant postseason.

Williams and D.J. combined for 53 points in a 112-101 win to open the series, as Seattle took over in the third quarter after falling behind early. Another strong third quarter, along with 38 points from Williams produced a 108-103 overtime win in Game 2, as the Supersonics held serve at home.

Another overtime game was at hand in Game 3 in the old Los Angeles Forum. Sikma, Silas and Shelton all fouled out and the Lakers hit nine free throws in the final 1:21 of OT. Seattle lost 118-112 to heighten the stakes for Game 4.

Williams and D.J. again stepped up with a combined 53 points and John Johnson added 20 of his own. The third quarter was Seattle’s friend again, as they shot 71 percent in the period. The Supersonics still led by ten points with 3:20 left when the Lakers made a furious rally to cut the lead to 117-115. They got one final shot, but Nixon missed at the buzzer and Seattle was in complete control of the series.

Another 30-point explosion from Williams, his fourth of the series, came in Game 5. Another strong third quarter came, when Williams scored 16 of his points. Shelton had 22, D.J. had 21 and the Supersonics won 106-100 to advance to the conference finals.

The Western Conference Finals would be against Phoenix, and it would be another series where Seattle would rely on superior depth to trump brighter stars. In this case, the stars were Paul Westphal and Walter Davis, each 24ppg scorers, and the Suns had strong interior personnel in Alvan Adams and the aptly named Truck Robinson.

Williams dropped 27 in Game 1 and Seattle completely dominated in a 108-93 win. They didn’t dominate Game 2, but they still won it and again defended their home floor. Even though Westphal and Davis got rolling, this game would prove to the definitive statement about Supersonic depth.

When your best three players shoot 11-for-56, as Williams, Sikma and DJ did, it’s quite an accomplishment to win a conference finals game. That’s what Seattle did, thanks to everyone else stepping up, led by John Johnson with 21. And the Supersonics crashed the boards, winning the rebound battle 59-38.

The depth failed Seattle when they hit the road for Phoenix in Game 3. Williams hit 35 points, but he was a one-man show in a 113-103 loss. This time, the Supersonics couldn’t steal one on the road, dropping Game 4 by 100-91 count. And it got even worse when they came back to the Seattle Kingdome. Williams played poorly, fouling out with just ten points and the Supersonics lost at home, 99-93, being outplayed in the fourth quarter.

To say Seattle was in trouble going on the road for Game 6 is an understatement, especially when they trailed by eight after three quarters and Williams again struggled, this time to a 16-point night. But somehow the Supersonics dug in, and with 23 from D.J. and 21 from Sikma, they pulled out a 106-105 win.

It’s not too much to say that the fourth quarter of Game 6 was the most important 12 minutes of basketball in the history of the city of Seattle. Because the Supersonics took advantage of their reprieve back home in Game 7. Williams and D.J. were back in the groove, combining for 55 points. And no one was better than Sikma, who scored 33, grabbed 11 rebounds and hit the clinching free throws in a 114-110 win.

Seattle was back in the NBA Finals and they had a rematch with Washington. The Bullets had homecourt advantage this time, with a 54-28 record, although they had been pushed seven games in both of their Eastern Conference playoff series. What they still held was solid, veteran big people, with Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, along with a quality scorer in Bob Dandridge and further depth with Kevin Grevey and Mitch Kupchak.

The Bullets had beaten the Supersonics the last two games in the ’78 NBA Finals and picked up where they left off, jumping out to an 18-point lead with a little over nine minutes left in Game 1. The Supersonics made a furious rally and tied the game. The Bullets had the last shot, and D.J. went up for the block against Larry Wright.

He got it, but he also got some of the body with one second left. Wright hit two free throws to win it, 99-97. Even though Seattle had lost, the rally shifted momentum and the Supersonics began to take over the NBA Finals.

Seattle defense was suffocating in Game 2, with a 92-82 win that got them their road win. Williams popped in 31 points to deliver a 105-95 win Game 3. The two guards, the Williams and D.J. combo, had their most explosive game of the playoffs in Game 4. They combined for 68 points and the Supersonics needed all of them in a 114-112 overtime win.

Sikma was dominating the inside, and he would finish the Finals with a 16/15 nightly average, outplaying both Hayes and Unseld. John Johnson and Shelton were combining for 14 more rebounds a night. This is even more significant than it looks, because if Washington couldn’t dominate up front, they weren’t going to win. The Supersonic guards were just too good.

Williams and D.J. were good one more time in the Beltway for Game 5. Even though the Bullets came out fired up, leading by eleven after the first quarter, the lead was down to three when the fourth quarter began. Williams finished with 23 points, D.J. had 21 and Seattle took over and won 97-93. They were NBA champs.

The Finals MVP award went to D.J, with his 23 ppg, even though Williams had a higher scoring average at 29. D.J. had more rebounds and assists (6-4 in each category) and his defense was vital in forcing the Washington backcourt into a tough series. Either player would have been a great choice. Collectively, they had been too much for the entire NBA.

Given the youth of the team, it’s surprising and disappointing that the 1979 Seattle Supersonics were the last hurrah. By the next season, Magic Johnson came to the Lakers and it was they who defined basketball in the Western Conference, while the Supersonics struggled to even stay on the map as a prime competitor.

Not until 1996, with Gary Payton, did the franchise return to the NBA Finals and they’ve since relocated to Oklahoma City.  The city of Seattle didn’t experience another championship until the Seahawks won the Super Bowl following the 2013 NFL season.

Seattle should be an NBA town, and in 1979, they were a special one, combining all elements of basketball to produce a championship team.

The Exciting 1979 NBA Playoffs & Their Anti-Climatic Finish

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The 1979 NBA playoffs did not have a marquee Finals matchup or a thrilling finish—the Seattle Sonics and Washington Bullets, who played in the 1978 NBA Finals, rematched for the title, with the Sonics winning in five games—but the playoffs in their entirety were as exciting as you could ask. Both conference finals went seven games, as did both Eastern Conference semi-finals and 3-1 series leads proved paper-thin.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

Washington won a league-best 54 games and was out for a second straight title. Elvin Hayes and Bob Dandridge were 20-point scorers and tough rebounders, as was Wes Unseld. The then-named Bullets faced the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks had eliminated the Houston Rockets and their MVP center Moses Malone in the best-of-three “mini-series” that was the precursor to the conference semis. Hayes scored 31 points, while Dandridge scored 30 and Washington won the opener 103-89. Even when Atlanta won Game 2, Washington went south and got two road wins, with Dandridge scoring 31 points and hitting key shots at the end for an overtime win in Game 4.

But Atlanta turned the tide, winning a close game in D.C. and a blowout back home for Game 6, and suddenly it was down to one game. Hayes scored 39 points and Dandridge had 29, as Washington hung on 100-94.

The San Antonio Spurs, still in the Eastern Conference, were the #2 seed and they faced the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a battle of scorers, the Spurs’ George Gervin and the 76ers’ Julius “Dr. J” Erving. The Sixers had lost the 1977 NBA Finals and the 1978 Eastern Conference Finals in tough fashion. This series didn’t start well for them. San Antonio won the first two games at home, with Gervin’s sidekick Larry Keno coming up big.

Erving scored 39 points in a Game 3 win back in Philly, but he was held to 15 in Game 4 while Gervin had 32 and the Spurs’ 115-112 win in Game 4 seemed to give them a firm hold on the series. But Philadelphia responded with a 120-97 blowout that illustrated questions about San Antonio’s battle-readiness on their home floor.

A two-point Sixer win in Game 6 pushed the series to the brink. In the finale, Gervin and Dr. J. were both brilliant, going for 30-plus, but Kenon was the third-best player on the floor and that gave San Antonio the edge in a 111-108 win.

Seattle had won 52 games, was the top seed in the West and out for redemption over last year’s home loss in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Their opponent in the West finals was the Phoenix Suns, who’d pulled a mammoth upset in this round over the Golden State Warriors just three years earlier.

The Sonics had a troika of guards Dennis Johnson and Gus Williams, along with center Jack Sikma. The Suns countered with the explosive Paul Westphal and Walter Davis. The Sonics won the first two games, taking Game 2 in spite of bad showings from all three key players.

But Phoenix not only defended their home court in Games 3 & 4, they went to Seattle and stole Game 5 on the strength of 27 points from Westphal. And they led Game 6 by eight points after three quarters. Seattle rallied and won that one 106-105. Then their troika delivered in Game 7. Sikma had a 33/11, Williams and Johnson were combined for 55 points and Seattle survived 114-110.

Washington wasn’t ready in Game 1 against San Antonio, losing 118-97, though Unseld’s 26/22 showing in Game 2 evened the series. San Antonio won both middle games at home, with Gervin’s 42-point showing in Game 4 pushing them to a 3-1 series lead. Hayes took over the next two games, with a 24/22 in Game 5, then 25 points in Game 6 to force a one-game battle back in D.C. Gervin again responded to a big game, with 42 points. But it wasn’t enough. Dandridge scored 37 and hit a jumper with eight seconds left to win the game 107-105.

After four Game 7s, maybe it was inevitable that the last round of the 1979 NBA playoffs would be a letdown. Washington got out to an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 1, but they nearly blew it, and though they survived 99-97, the rest of the series was all Seattle. Williams averaged 29 ppg for the Finals. Johnson’s lockdown defense won him NBA Finals MVP. An overtime win for Seattle in Game 4 ended all doubt, and a 97-93 win on the road in Game 5 gave the Sonics their redemption.