1975–76 Detroit Pistons season (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NBA team season

NBA professional basketball team season

1975–76 Detroit Pistons season
Head coach Ray Scott (fired) Herb Brown
General manager Oscar Feldman
Owner(s) Bill Davidson
Arena Cobo Arena
Results
Record 36–46 (.439)
Place Division: 2nd (Midwest)Conference: 5th (Western)
Playoff finish Conference semifinals(lost to Warriors 2–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
< 1974–75 1976–77 >

The 1975–76 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 28th season in the NBA and 19th season in the city of Detroit.[1] The team played at Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit.

The Pistons made a major move in the off-season, trading perennial All-Star Dave Bing to the Washington Bullets for NBA assist leader Kevin Porter. Porter would only play 19 games for the Pistons in 1975–76, missing the bulk of the season with an injury. Bing represented Washington at the 1976 NBA All-Star Game, honored as the game MVP. The team also made a move at mid-season, firing coach Ray Scott. Greg Eno from Out of Bounds described his January dismissal, "Thirty years ago and a month, Scott was conducting practice -- the Pistons were in a terrible slump at the time -- and management strode onto the court, relieved Ray Scott of his silver whistle, and marched him off the court to give him the Ziggy -- that Detroit word for a coach getting fired. The Pistons hadn't yet learned to act with class in 1976. They were still a bush league franchise, even though Bing and Scott and Lanier had combined to put pro basketball on the map in Detroit. So the firing of Scott -- in front of his stunned players -- in January 1976 was done with all the subtlety of July 4th fireworks."[2] He was replaced by assistant Herb Brown.[3]

The Pistons finished with a 36-46 (.439) record, 2nd place in the Midwest Division. The team was led by forward Curtis Rowe (16.0 ppg, 8.7 apg, NBA All-Star) and center Bob Lanier (21.3 ppg, 11.7 rpg).[4] Detroit advanced to the 1976 NBA Playoffs, winning 10 of their 11 final games, and then won their first round series of the Western Conference playoffs 2–1 over the Milwaukee Bucks, the team's first playoff series win since the 1961-62 Detroit Pistons season. Detroit won the deciding 3rd game of the series in Milwaukee 107–104, securing the win with a late Chris Ford steal. The team then fell to the Golden State Warriors 4–2 in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, dropping the 6th game in overtime 118–116 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.[5]

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
4 64 Lindsay Hairston Forward United States Michigan State
9 151 Terry Thomas Forward United States Detroit

Detroit Pistons rostervte

Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 20 Brown, Roger 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1950-02-23 Kansas SG 11 Clark, Archie 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1941-07-15 Minnesota SG 22 Dickerson, Henry 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1951-11-27 College of Charleston SF 44 Eberhard, Al 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1952-05-10 Missouri SG 42 Ford, Chris 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1949-01-11 Villanova SF 45 Hairston, Lindsay 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1951-12-08 Michigan State C 16 Lanier, Bob 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1948-09-10 St. Bonaventure SG 15 Mengelt, John 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1949-10-16 Auburn PG 14 Money, Eric 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1955-02-06 Arizona SF 54 Porter, Howard 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1948-08-31 Villanova PG 10 Porter, Kevin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1950-04-17 Saint Francis (PA) PF 18 Rowe, Curtis 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1949-07-02 UCLA PF 50 Thomas, Terry 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1953-08-20 Detroit Mercy PF 31 Trapp, George 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1948-07-11 Long Beach State Head coach Herb Brown Assistant coach(es) Jim Davis Mike Abdenour (trainer) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick**(FA)** Free agent**(S)** SuspendedInjured Injured Roster Last transaction: February 24, 1976
Midwest Divisionvte W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Milwaukee Bucks 38 44 .463 – 22–19 16–25 13–8
x-Detroit Pistons 36 46 .439 2 24–17 12–29 12–9
Kansas City Kings 31 51 .378 7 25–16 6–35 10–11
Chicago Bulls 24 58 .293 14 15–26 9–32 7–14
# Western Conferencevte
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-Golden State Warriors 59 23 .720 –
2 x-Seattle SuperSonics 43 39 .524 16
3 x-Phoenix Suns 42 40 .512 17
4 y-Milwaukee Bucks 38 44 .463 21
5 x-Detroit Pistons 36 46 .439 23
6 Los Angeles Lakers 40 42 .488 19
7 Portland Trail Blazers 37 45 .451 22
8 Kansas City Kings 31 51 .378 28
9 Chicago Bulls 24 58 .293 35

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

[edit]

1975–76 NBA Records
Team ATL BOS BUF CHI CLE DET GSW HOU KCK LAL MIL NOJ NYK PHI PHO POR SEA WAS
Atlanta — 2–3 2–3 2–2 2–5 1–3 2–2 2–5 2–2 1–3 2–2 2–4 3–2 2–3 0–4 2–2 1–3 1–5
Boston 3–2 — 4–3 2–2 3–2 4–0 2–2 4–1 2–2 4–0 2–2 4–1 5–2 4–3 4–0 2–2 2–2 3–2
Buffalo 3–2 3–4 — 3–1 3–2 1–3 1–3 3–2 4–0 2–2 3–1 4–1 4–3 3–4 3–1 2–2 2–2 2–3
Chicago 2–2 2–2 1–3 — 0–4 3–4 1–4 1–3 1–6 3–2 3–4 2–2 0–4 0–4 2–3 1–4 2–3 0–4
Cleveland 5–2 2–3 2–3 4–0 — 2–2 1–3 2–4 1–3 2–2 4–0 4–3 3–2 3–2 3–1 4–0 3–1 4–2
Detroit 3–1 0–4 3–1 4–3 2–2 — 0–5 2–2 5–2 1–4 3–4 1–3 3–1 1–3 1–4 2–3 3–2 2–2
Golden State 2–2 2–2 3–1 4–1 3–1 5–0 — 2–2 4–1 5–2 5–0 2–2 4–0 3–1 4–2 4–2 4–3 3–1
Houston 5–2 1–4 2–3 3–1 4–2 2–2 2–2 — 2–2 1–3 2–2 2–4 3–2 3–2 0–4 3–1 2–2 3–4
Kansas City 2–2 2–2 0–4 6–1 3–1 2–5 1–4 2–2 — 2–3 2–5 1–3 1–3 1–3 3–2 0–5 2–3 1–3
Los Angeles 3–1 0–4 2–2 2–3 2–2 4–1 2–5 3–1 3–2 — 2–3 3–1 3–1 2–2 2–4 3–4 3–3 1–3
Milwaukee 2–2 2–2 1–3 4–3 0–4 4–3 0–5 2–2 5–2 3–2 — 2–2 2–2 2–2 3–2 2–3 2–3 2–2
New Orleans 4–2 1–4 1–4 2–2 3–4 3–1 2–2 4–2 3–1 1–3 2–2 — 2–3 1–4 1–3 3–1 1–3 4–3
New York 2–3 2–5 3–4 4–0 2–3 1–3 0–4 2–3 3–1 1–3 2–2 3–2 — 5–2 2–2 3–1 0–4 3–2
Philadelphia 3–2 3–4 4–3 4–0 2–3 3–1 1–3 2–3 3–1 2–2 2–2 4–1 2–5 — 3–1 4–0 2–2 2–3
Phoenix 4–0 0–4 1–3 3–2 1–3 4–1 2–4 4–0 2–3 4–2 2–3 3–1 2–2 1–3 — 5–2 4–3 0–4
Portland 2–2 2–2 2–2 4–1 0–4 3–2 2–4 1–3 5–0 4–3 3–2 1–3 1–3 0–4 2–5 — 3–3 2–2
Seattle 3–1 2–2 2–2 3–2 1–3 2–3 3–4 2–2 3–2 3–3 3–2 3–1 4–0 2–2 3–4 3–3 — 1–3
Washington 5–1 2–3 3–2 4–0 2–4 2–2 1–3 4–3 3–1 3–1 2–2 3–4 2–3 3–2 4–0 2–2 3–1 —
1976 playoff game log
First Round: 2–1 (home: 1–0; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists LocationAttendance Series 1 April 13 @ Milwaukee L 107–110 Bob Lanier (25) Bob Lanier (15) Lanier, Clark (6) MECCA Arena8,912 0–1 2 April 16 Milwaukee W 126–123 Bob Lanier (35) Curtis Rowe (10) Money, Clark (5) Cobo Arena8,330 1–1 3 April 18 @ Milwaukee W 107–104 Bob Lanier (28) Bob Lanier (12) Eric Money (8) MECCA Arena8,213 2–1
Conference semifinals: 2–4 (home: 1–2; road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists LocationAttendance Series 1 April 20 @ Golden State L 103–127 Bob Lanier (18) Bob Lanier (16) Chris Ford (7) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena13,067 0–1 2 April 22 @ Golden State W 123–111 Curtis Rowe (33) Curtis Rowe (10) Chris Ford (9) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena13,067 1–1 3 April 24 Golden State L 96–113 Bob Lanier (23) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (8) Cobo Arena10,022 1–2 4 April 26 Golden State W 106–102 Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (11) Eric Money (7) Cobo Arena11,389 2–2 5 April 28 @ Golden State L 109–128 Howard Porter (20) Bob Lanier (12) Archie Clark (5) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena13,067 2–3 6 April 30 Golden State L 116–118 (OT) Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (9) Cobo Arena10,361 2–4
1976 schedule
  1. ^ 1975–76 Detroit Pistons
  2. ^ "Out of Bounds: Ex-Pistons Coach Scott Still Giving Back to Detroit". March 2006.
  3. ^ "Chevette to Corvette No. 38: The 1975-76 Detroit Pistons". October 21, 2011.
  4. ^ "1975-76 Detroit Pistons Roster and Stats".
  5. ^ "1975-76 Detroit Pistons Roster and Stats".