1975–76 Golden State Warriors season

The 1975–76 Golden State Warriors season was the 31st season of NBA basketball in Oakland, California Coming off their NBA Championship, the Warriors finished with a then-franchise-best 59–23 record.^[1] The Warriors would however lose in the Western Conference finals to the upstart Phoenix Suns, four games to three. The Warriors’ franchise-best regular-season record would be surpassed when the team won the 2014–15 championship, but in between the Warriors would play thirty-eight seasons without even reaching the conference finals, the fourth-longest such drought in NBA history.

1975–76 Golden State Warriors season
Division champions
Head coach	Al Attles
General manager	Dick Vertlieb
Owner(s)	Franklin Mieuli
Arena	Oakland Coliseum Arena
Results
Record	59–23 (.720)
Place	Division: 1st (Pacific) Conference: 1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Conference finals (lost to Suns 3–4)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
Television	KTVU
Radio	KNBR
< 1974–75 1976–77 >

Offseason

Draft picks

Main article: 1975 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	14	Joe Bryant	F	United States	La Salle
2	20	Gus Williams	G	United States	USC
3	40	Otis Johnson	F	United States	Stetson
3	51	Robert Hawkins	G	United States	Illinois State
4	69	Billy Taylor	F	United States	La Salle
5	87	Larry Pounds		United States	Washington
6	105	Tony Styles		United States	San Francisco
7	123	Stan Boyer	F	United States	Wyoming
8	141	Mike Rozenski		United States	St. Mary's (CA)
9	157	Scott Trobbe		United States	Stanford
10	171	Maurice Harper		United States	St. Mary's (CA)

Roster

1975–76 Golden State Warriors roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SF 24 Rick Barry 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1944-03-28 Miami (FL) PF 42 Dwight Davis 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1949-10-28 Houston PF 40 Derrek Dickey 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 1951-03-20 Cincinnati PG 15 Charles Dudley 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1950-03-05 Washington SG 12 Robert Hawkins 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1954-06-30 Illinois State PG 10 Charles Johnson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1949-03-31 California C 52 George Johnson 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1948-12-18 Dillard SG 23 Jeff Mullins 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1942-03-18 Duke C 44 Clifford Ray 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1949-01-21 Oklahoma SG 20 Phil Smith 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1952-04-22 San Francisco SF 41 Jamaal Wilkes 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1953-05-02 UCLA PG 1 Gus Williams 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1953-10-10 USC

Head coach Al Attles Assistant(s) Joe Roberts Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster Updated: October 23, 1975

Regular season

Season standings

Pacific Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Golden State Warriors	59	23	.720	–	36–5	23–18	17–9
x-Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	16	31–10	12–29	12–14
x-Phoenix Suns	42	40	.512	17	27–14	15–26	15–11
Los Angeles Lakers	40	42	.488	19	31–11	9–31	10–16
Portland Trail Blazers	37	45	.451	22	25–15	12–30	11–15

#	Western Conference v t e
	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

Record vs. opponents

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	—

Playoffs

In the playoffs, the Warriors returned to the Western Conference finals by beating the Detroit Pistons in 6 games. In the Western Finals, the Warriors faced the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors had a 2 games to 1 lead. Game 4 went in overtime and the Warriors were unable to grab a 3–1 series lead. The Suns would rally to win the game 133–129. The Warriors would bounce back to take Game 5, but the Suns would win Games 6 & 7 to stun the defending Champions.^[1]

1976 playoff game log
Conference semifinals: 4–2 (home: 2–1; road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 20 Detroit W 127–103 Phil Smith (26) Clifford Ray (12) Rick Barry (14) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 1–0 2 April 22 Detroit L 111–123 Rick Barry (27) Clifford Ray (12) Rick Barry (8) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 1–1 3 April 24 @ Detroit W 113–96 Phil Smith (34) Jamaal Wilkes (18) Rick Barry (10) Cobo Arena 10,022 2–1 4 April 26 @ Detroit L 102–106 Phil Smith (31) Clifford Ray (8) Rick Barry (6) Cobo Arena 11,389 2–2 5 April 28 Detroit W 128–109 Phil Smith (28) Clifford Ray (14) Rick Barry (11) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 3–2 6 April 30 @ Detroit W 118–116 (OT) Phil Smith (37) three players tied (8) Phil Smith (7) Cobo Arena 10,361 4–2
Conference finals: 3–4 (home: 2–2; road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 May 2 Phoenix W 128–103 Rick Barry (38) Clifford Ray (11) Gus Williams (6) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,475 1–0 2 May 5 Phoenix L 101–108 Rick Barry (44) George Johnson (11) Rick Barry (4) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 1–1 3 May 7 @ Phoenix W 99–91 Jamaal Wilkes (22) Rick Barry (7) Barry, Smith (6) Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,306 2–1 4 May 9 @ Phoenix L 129–133 (2OT) Phil Smith (30) Jamaal Wilkes (14) Phil Smith (8) Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,884 2–2 5 May 12 Phoenix W 111–95 Phil Smith (25) Clifford Ray (16) Phil Smith (6) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 3–2 6 May 14 @ Phoenix L 104–105 Rick Barry (30) Clifford Ray (12) Barry, Smith (6) Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,396 3–3 7 May 16 Phoenix L 86–94 Rick Barry (20) Wilkes, Ray (13) Phil Smith (6) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 3–4
1976 schedule

Awards and honors

• Rick Barry, All-NBA First Team
• Rick Barry, NBA All-Star Game
• Phil Smith, All-NBA Second Team
• Phil Smith, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
• Gus Williams, NBA All-Rookie Team First Team