1976 Overview
From Hoopedia
1975-76 NBA Season
Boston fans never tired of swarming the parquet during Garden victory parties. At least that’s the way it seemed to NBA opponents who saw the Celtics claim their 13th championship.
The Celtics—featuring Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, John Havlicek, Charlie Scott, Don Nelson, and Don Chaney and coached by Tommy Heinsohn—won their second title in three years.
As the season approached, two ABA teams, the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets, applied for NBA admission for 1976-77. The move signaled the end for the ABA.
The NBA, meanwhile, named its third commissioner. Larry O’Brien, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, replaced retiring Walter Kennedy. The owners hoped O’Brien’s skills as a mediator and lobbyist would hasten the merger.
In a stunning move, Milwaukee traded Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for four players. While Abdul-Jabbar went on to win MVP honors by averaging 27.7 points and a league-leading 16.9 rebounds per game, the Lakers went 40-42 and missed the playoffs.
The defending-champion Warriors won a league-high 59 games, but upstart Phoenix, with Rookie of the Year Alvan Adams, beat Seattle and defending champion Golden State in seven games to meet Boston in the Finals. Boston, having acquired Scott from Phoenix for Paul Westphal, won 54 games to top the East.
The six-game championship series featured a triple-overtime Game 5. “That was the most exciting basketball game I’ve ever seen,” said Rick Barry, who worked the event as part of the CBS broadcast crew. “They just had one great play after another. I’ll never forget the end. Jo Jo White was so exhausted, he just sat down on the court. It was such an emotional and physical game for everybody involved.”
It didn’t exactly begin as a classic, though. After nine minutes, Boston was up 32-12. The Celtics went on to score 38 points in the first quarter and seemed on the verge of breaking the Suns. Phoenix stayed in it somehow, cutting a 22-point deficit to 15 by the half. Then the Suns went to their defense, held Boston to a mere 34 points over the last two quarters and closed regulation at 95-95.
The first overtime brought six more points for each team. In the second overtime, Havlicek hit a 15-foot-jump shot for an apparent 111-110 victory. Celtics fans swarmed the court, but the officials ruled one second remained.
After the court was cleared, Westphal called a timeout the Suns didn’t have so Phoenix could move the ball to half-court and have a chance for a shot. Boston made the technical free throw, but Phoenix inbounded to forward Gar Heard, who swished a 20-footer for yet another overtime.
With several regulars having fouled out, the unlikely hero for the Celtics was little-used Glenn McDonald, a 6-6 forward who had been the team’s number-one draft pick out of Long Beach State in 1974. His NBA career would last just nine more games after the 1976 Finals, as he would be released in the 1976-77 season by Milwaukee. But he scored six points in that third overtime, the last two on a short jumper to give Boston a 128-126 win.
In Game 6 in Phoenix, White, Cowens, Havlicek and Scott took control. The Celtics rode a late surge to an 87-80 win and their 13th championship. “We had to gut it out all the way,” Heinsohn said. “Phoenix has a fine team with a great shooter. When the game was up for grabs, it was a question of pure guts.”
White scored 15 in Game 6 and led Boston throughout the series with 130 points in six games. For that performance, he was named the series MVP. “Our offense really wasn’t that great,” White said. “But defense will do it for you every time, and our defense did it.”
