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, first since 1956 as the Philadelphia Warriors, and most recent until 2015.
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 last Conference Finals appearance as a Western Conference team. They would move to the Eastern Conference (where they remain today) in 1980. They would not reach the East Finals until 1989, and would not win a title until 1991.
Bracket
| First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Golden State | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Western Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Seattle | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Seattle | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Detroit | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Golden State | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Chicago | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Kansas City-Omaha | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Chicago | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Golden State | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Washington | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Boston | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Houston | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Houston | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | New York | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Boston | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Washington | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Buffalo | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Washington | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
Western Conference
Champion: Golden State Warriors
1st Round
(1) Golden State Warriors, (2) Chicago Bulls & (3) Kansas City Kings have first round byes.
(4) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (5) Detroit Pistons: Sonics win series 2-1
- Game 1 @ Seattle (April 8): Seattle 90, Detroit 77
- Game 2 @ Detroit (April 10): Detroit 122, Seattle 106
- Game 3 @ Seattle (April 12): Seattle 100, Detroit 93
Conference Semifinals
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (4) Seattle SuperSonics: Warriors win series 4-2
- Game 1 @ Golden State (April 14): Golden State 123, Seattle 96
- Game 2 @ Golden State (April 16): Seattle 100, Golden State 99
- Game 3 @ Seattle (April 17): Golden State 105, Seattle 96
- Game 4 @ Seattle (April 19): Seattle 111, Golden State 94
- Game 5 @ Golden State (April 22): Golden State 124, Seattle 100
- Game 6 @ Seattle (April 24): Golden State 105, Seattle 96
(2) Chicago Bulls vs. (3) Kansas City-Omaha Kings: Bulls win series 4-2
- Game 1 @ Chicago (April 9): Chicago 95, Kansas City-Omaha 89
- Game 2 @ Kansas City (April 13): Kansas City-Omaha 102, Chicago 95
- Game 3 @ Chicago (April 16): Chicago 93, Kansas City-Omaha 90
- Game 4 @ Kansas City (April 18): Kansas City-Omaha 104, Chicago 100 (OT)
- Game 5 @ Chicago (April 20): Chicago 104, Kansas City-Omaha 77
- Game 6 @ Kansas City (April 23): Chicago 101, Kansas City-Omaha 89
Conference Finals
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (2) Chicago Bulls: Warriors win series 4-3
- Game 1 @ Golden State (April 27): Golden State 107, Chicago 89
- Game 2 @ Chicago (April 30): Chicago 90, Golden State 89
- Game 3 @ Chicago (May 4): Chicago 108, Golden State 101
- Game 4 @ Golden State (May 6): Golden State 111, Chicago 106
- Game 5 @ Golden State (May 8): Chicago 89, Golden State 79
- Game 6 @ Chicago (May 11): Golden State 86, Chicago 72
- Game 7 @ Golden State (May 14): Golden State 83, Chicago 79
Eastern Conference
Champion: Washington Bullets
1st Round
(1) Boston Celtics, (2) Washington Bullets & (3) Buffalo Braves have first round byes.
(4) Houston Rockets vs. (5) New York Knicks: Rockets win series 2-1
- Game 1 @ Houston (April 8): Houston 99, New York 84
- Game 2 @ New York (April 10): New York 106, Houston 96
- Game 3 @ Houston (April 12): Houston 118, New York 86
Conference Semifinals
(1) Boston Celtics vs. (4) Houston Rockets: Celtics win series 4-1
- Game 1 @ Boston (April 14): Boston 123, Houston 106
- Game 2 @ Boston (April 16): Boston 112, Houston 100
- Game 3 @ Houston (April 19): Houston 117, Boston 102
- Game 4 @ Houston (April 22): Boston 122, Houston 117
- Game 5 @ Boston (April 24): Boston 128, Houston 115
(2) Washington Bullets vs. (3) Buffalo Braves: Bullets win series 4-3
- Game 1 @ Washington (April 10): Buffalo 113, Washington 102
- Game 2 @ Buffalo (April 12): Washington 120, Buffalo 106
- Game 3 @ Washington (April 16): Washington 111, Buffalo 96
- Game 4 @ Buffalo (April 18): Buffalo 108, Washington 102
- Game 5 @ Washington (April 20): Washington 97, Buffalo 93
- Game 6 @ Buffalo (April 23): Buffalo 102, Washington 96
- Game 7 @ Washington (April 25): Washington 115, Buffalo 96
Note: Bob McAdoo scored 50 points in Game 4 for the Braves.
Conference Finals
(1) Boston Celtics vs. (2) Washington Bullets: Bullets win series 4-2
- Game 1 @ Boston (April 27): Washington 100, Boston 95
- Game 2 @ Washington (April 30): Washington 117, Boston 92
- Game 3 @ Boston (May 3): Boston 101, Washington 90
- Game 4 @ Washington (May 7): Washington 119, Boston 108
- Game 5 @ Boston (May 9): Boston 103, Washington 99
- Game 6 @ Washington (May 11): Washington 98, Boston 92
NBA Finals
(2) Washington Bullets vs. (1) Golden State Warriors: Warriors win series 4-0
- Game 1 @ Washington (May 18): Golden State 101, Washington 95
- Game 2 @ Golden State (May 20): Golden State 92, Washington 91
- Game 3 @ Golden State (May 23): Golden State 109, Washington 101
- Game 4 @ Washington (May 25): Golden State 96, Washington 95