1975 NBA playoffs


The 1975 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1974–75 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals. Rick Barry was named NBA Finals MVP. The Warriors won their third NBA title and first since 1956 as the Philadelphia Warriors.
The playoff format was revised again, as the result of which the first two finishers in each division were guaranteed playoff berths, along with the best third-place team from each conference. Once each conference's qualifiers were selected, they were seeded 1–5, with the fourth and fifth seeds playing a best-of-three series, with the victor advancing to play the first seed in a best-of-seven semifinal, while the second and third seeds played the other semifinal.
The eight-year-old Seattle SuperSonics made their playoff debut, winning the first playoff series in franchise history against the Detroit Pistons. Seattle would go on to make consecutive NBA Finals appearances in 1978 and 1979, winning the championship the latter year.
The Kansas City-Omaha Kings made their first playoff appearance since 1967 as the Cincinnati Royals, and the Houston Rockets made their first playoff appearance since 1969 as the San Diego Rockets.
The 1975 playoffs expanded the number of playoff qualifiers to 10; it would be expanded again to 12 in 1977 and again to its current number of 16 in 1984.
At the time, this was the closest the Chicago Bulls came to an NBA title, losing to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals 4–3. This was their only Western Conference Finals appearance as they would move to the Eastern Conference in 1980. They would not reach the East Finals until 1989, and would not win a title until 1991.

Bracket

Western Conference

Champion: Golden State Warriors
1st Round
Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls & Kansas City Kings have first round byes.
Seattle SuperSonics vs. Detroit Pistons: Sonics win series 2-1
Conference Semifinals
Golden State Warriors vs. Seattle SuperSonics: Warriors win series 4-2
Chicago Bulls vs. Kansas City-Omaha Kings: Bulls win series 4-2
Conference Finals
Golden State Warriors vs. Chicago Bulls: Warriors win series 4-3
Champion: Washington Bullets
1st Round
Boston Celtics, Washington Bullets & Buffalo Braves have first round byes.
Houston Rockets vs. New York Knicks: Rockets win series 2-1
Conference Semifinals
Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets: Celtics win series 4-1
Washington Bullets vs. Buffalo Braves: Bullets win series 4-3
Note: Bob McAdoo scored 50 points in Game 4 for the Braves.
Conference Finals
Boston Celtics vs. Washington Bullets: Bullets win series 4-2
Washington Bullets vs. Golden State Warriors: Warriors win series 4-0