1975–76 Detroit Pistons season

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.

1975–76 Detroit Pistons season
Head coach
General managerOscar Feldman
Owner(s)Bill Davidson
ArenaCobo Arena
Results
Record36–46 (.439)
PlaceDivision: 2nd (Midwest)
Conference: 5th (Western)
Playoff finishConference semifinals
(lost to Warriors 2–4)

Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
< 1974–75 1976–77 >

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]

Draft picks edit

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

Roster edit

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 (C) 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
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  •   Injured

Roster
Last transaction: February 24, 1976

Regular season edit

Season standings edit

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
#
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

Playoffs edit

1976 playoff game log
First Round: 2–1 (home: 1–0; road: 1–1)
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance
Series
1 April 13 @ Milwaukee L 107–110 Bob Lanier (25) Bob Lanier (15) Lanier, Clark (6) MECCA Arena
8,912
0–1
2 April 16 Milwaukee W 126–123 Bob Lanier (35) Curtis Rowe (10) Money, Clark (5) Cobo Arena
8,330
1–1
3 April 18 @ Milwaukee W 107–104 Bob Lanier (28) Bob Lanier (12) Eric Money (8) MECCA Arena
8,213
2–1
Conference semifinals: 2–4 (home: 1–2; road: 1–2)
Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location
Attendance
Series
1 April 20 @ Golden State L 103–127 Bob Lanier (18) Bob Lanier (16) Chris Ford (7) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
13,067
0–1
2 April 22 @ Golden State W 123–111 Curtis Rowe (33) Curtis Rowe (10) Chris Ford (9) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
13,067
1–1
3 April 24 Golden State L 96–113 Bob Lanier (23) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (8) Cobo Arena
10,022
1–2
4 April 26 Golden State W 106–102 Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (11) Eric Money (7) Cobo Arena
11,389
2–2
5 April 28 @ Golden State L 109–128 Howard Porter (20) Bob Lanier (12) Archie Clark (5) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
13,067
2–3
6 April 30 Golden State L 116–118 (OT) Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (9) Cobo Arena
10,361
2–4
1976 schedule

References edit

  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".