1979 NBA Finals

1979 NBA finals

Team Coach Wins Seattle SuperSonics Lenny Wilkens 4 Washington Bullets Dick Motta 1
Dates	May 20–June 1
MVP	Dennis Johnson (Seattle SuperSonics)
Hall of Famers	SuperSonics: Dennis Johnson (2010) Jack Sikma (2019) Bullets: Bob Dandridge (2021) Elvin Hayes (1990) Wes Unseld (1988) Coaches: Lenny Wilkens (1998) Officials: Hugh Evans (2022) Darell Garretson (2016)
Eastern finals	Bullets defeated Spurs, 4–3
Western finals	SuperSonics defeated Suns, 4–3
← 1978 NBA finals 1980 →

The 1979 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series played at the conclusion of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1978–79 season. The Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics played the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets, with the Bullets holding home-court advantage, due to a better regular season record. The SuperSonics defeated the Bullets 4 games to 1. The series was a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals, which the Washington Bullets had won 4–3.

Dennis Johnson of the SuperSonics was named as the NBA Finals MVP, while Gus Williams of the SuperSonics was the top scorer, averaging 28.6 points per game.

This was Seattle's second men's professional sports championship, following the Seattle Metropolitans' victory in the 1917 Stanley Cup Finals. The city's next title wouldn't be until 2014 when the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII.

Both the 1978 and 1979 NBA Finals were informally dubbed the "George Washington series", because both teams were playing in places named after the first President of the United States (the SuperSonics represented Seattle, Washington while the Bullets represented Washington, D.C., albeit playing in nearby Landover, Maryland).

Until 2023, this was the most recent time that a Western Conference team not based in Texas or California has won an NBA title, and the last of only two occasions alongside the 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers when a team from the present-day Northwest Division has won the league title, which is by 27 years the longest league championship drought for any division of the four major North American sports leagues. ^{[note 1]} Since then, the following Western teams have gone on to win an NBA title: the Los Angeles Lakers (eleven times), the San Antonio Spurs (five times), the Golden State Warriors (four times), the Houston Rockets (twice), and the Dallas Mavericks (once). The remaining twenty-one titles since 1980 have been won by Eastern Conference teams.^{[note 2]}

This was a rematch of the 1978 NBA Finals, which the Bullets won 4–3. Seattle lost Marvin Webster to the New York Knicks but acquired Lonnie Shelton in exchange. Other than that, both teams' rosters stayed virtually intact. Unlike the previous year, both teams finished 1–2 in the NBA, with the Bullets topping the league at 54 wins; the Sonics with 52 wins. In the playoffs, Seattle defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4–1 and the Phoenix Suns 4–3, while Washington had a much tougher road, eliminating the Atlanta Hawks in an unexpectedly tough seven-game series and coming back from a 3–1 deficit to eliminate the San Antonio Spurs in seven. Both earned a first-round bye.

The Finals were carried by CBS television (the network's NBA on CBS aired league games from 1973 to 1990), with Brent Musburger as the lead announcer. The 1979 Finals has been preserved in full, unlike the previous year's, in which Games 2, 3 and 4 are missing. (Except for 1978, all NBA Finals since 1975 have been completely preserved.)

Seattle SuperSonics (Western Conference champion)		Washington Bullets (Eastern Conference champion)
# Western Conference v t e Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Seattle SuperSonics 52 30 .634 – 2 y-Kansas City Kings 48 34 .585 4 3 x-Phoenix Suns 50 32 .610 2 4 x-Denver Nuggets 47 35 .573 5 5 x-Los Angeles Lakers 47 35 .573 5 6 x-Portland Trail Blazers 45 37 .549 7 7 San Diego Clippers 43 39 .524 9 8 Indiana Pacers 38 44 .463 14 9 Milwaukee Bucks 38 44 .463 14 10 Golden State Warriors 38 44 .463 14 11 Chicago Bulls 31 51 .378 21 1st seed in the West, 2nd best league record	Regular season		# Eastern Conference v t e Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Washington Bullets 54 28 .659 – 2 y-San Antonio Spurs 48 34 .585 6 3 x-Philadelphia 76ers 47 35 .573 7 4 x-Houston Rockets 47 35 .573 7 5 x-Atlanta Hawks 46 36 .561 8 6 x-New Jersey Nets 37 45 .451 17 7 New York Knicks 31 51 .378 23 8 Cleveland Cavaliers 30 52 .366 24 8 Detroit Pistons 30 52 .366 24 10 Boston Celtics 29 53 .354 25 11 New Orleans Jazz 26 56 .317 28 1st seed in the East, best league record
Earned first-round bye	First Round		Earned first-round bye
Defeated the (5) Los Angeles Lakers, 4–1	Conference Semifinals		Defeated the (5) Atlanta Hawks, 4–3
Defeated the (3) Phoenix Suns, 4–3	Conference Finals		Defeated the (2) San Antonio Spurs, 4–3

The teams split the four-game series in the regular season:

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	May 20	Washington Bullets	99–97 (1–0)	Seattle SuperSonics
Game 2	May 24	Washington Bullets	82–92 (1–1)	Seattle SuperSonics
Game 3	May 27	Seattle SuperSonics	105–95 (2–1)	Washington Bullets
Game 4	May 29	Seattle SuperSonics	114–112 (3–1)	Washington Bullets
Game 5	June 1	Washington Bullets	93–97 (1–4)	Seattle SuperSonics

^[1]

The Bullets controlled the game and led by 18 in the fourth, but Seattle mounted a furious comeback to tie it at 97. Larry Wright, who had 26 points off the bench, drove to the basket as time ran down and had his shot blocked by Dennis Johnson, but the referees called a foul on Johnson. Wright went to the line with one second left and hit two of three foul shots (NBA rules at the time awarded an extra free throw attempt when a team was in the penalty foul situation) to win the game.^[2]

Elvin Hayes had 11 points in the first quarter, but only nine the rest of the way as Seattle turned its defense up a notch, holding the Bullets to 30 points in the second half.

Outside of the two metropolitan areas of the competing teams, as well as Baltimore and Portland, the game was shown on tape delay beginning at 11:35 Eastern and Pacific/10:35 p.m. Central and Mountain. This was the first of six championship series games shown by CBS on tape delay over a three-season span. Four of the six games in the championship series two years later were shown on tape delay outside of the markets of the competing clubs.

Seattle dominated this game, which wasn't as close as the final margin indicated. Gus Williams scored 31 points, Jack Sikma had 21 and 17 rebounds, and Dennis Johnson had a fine all-around game with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and two blocked shots.

^[3] The Sonics won a close one in OT 114–112, staving off a late Bullets comeback behind 36 points by Gus Williams and 32 by Dennis Johnson. Williams and Johnson dominated the Bullets' guards all series, as they were plagued by poor shooting. Johnson also had four blocks in the game, the last on Kevin Grevey with 4 seconds left to ensure the Seattle victory.

^[4] Back home, Elvin Hayes had a hot first half, scoring 20, but injuries to starting guards Tom Henderson, Kevin Grevey and prolonged poor shooting by their replacements took their toll. Hayes had only nine points in the second half as Seattle closed out the series.^[5]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Seattle SuperSonics

Seattle SuperSonics statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG

Washington Bullets

Washington Wizards statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG

1978–79 Seattle SuperSonics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 21 Awtrey, Dennis 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Santa Clara SG 32 Brown, Fred 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 182 lb (83 kg) Iowa SG 10 Hassett, Joe 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Providence SG 24 Johnson, Dennis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Pepperdine SF 27 Johnson, John 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Iowa C 23 LaGarde, Tom 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) North Carolina SF 22 Robinson, Jackie 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) UNLV PF 8 Shelton, Lonnie 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Oregon State C 43 Sikma, Jack 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Illinois Wesleyan PF 35 Silas, Paul 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Creighton SG 11 Snyder, Dick 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Davidson SF 42 Walker, Wally 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Virginia PG 1 Williams, Gus 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) USC

Head coach Lenny Wilkens Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

^[6]

1978–79 Washington Bullets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From SF 42 Ballard, Greg 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Oregon SG 45 Chenier, Phil 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) California C 40 Corzine, Dave 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) DePaul SF 10 Dandridge, Bob 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Norfolk State SF 35 Grevey, Kevin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Kentucky PG 14 Henderson, Tom 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Hawaiʻi PF 11 Hayes, Elvin 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Houston PF 25 Kupchak, Mitch 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) North Carolina SG 15 Johnson, Charles 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) California SG 22 Phegley, Roger 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Bradley C 41 Unseld, Wes 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Louisville PG 32 Wright, Larry 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Grambling State

Head coach Dick Motta Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

• 1979 NBA Playoffs

• 1979 NBA Playoffs
• NBA.com Season Review: 1978-79