1978 NBA playoffs

The 1978 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1977-78 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets defeating the Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. Wes Unseld was named NBA Finals MVP. To date, it remains the only NBA title that the Bullets (since renamed the Wizards) have won.

It was the third NBA Finals appearance and first title for the Bullets, founded in 1961. The Sonics made the Finals for the first time in their 11-year existence. This would be the first of two straight meetings in the Finals between the Bullets and Sonics, with Seattle winning the title the next year.

This was the first time since the expansion of the playoff field to 10 teams in 1975 that neither conference champion had the benefit of a first-round bye by being one of the top two teams in the conference during the regular season. The 1979 Finals rematch between the Sonics and Bullets took place with both teams as the #1 seed in their respective conference.

The Denver Nuggets, one of the four former American Basketball Association teams to join the NBA the previous season, became the first of them to win an NBA playoff series, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in a 7-game conference semifinal.

Bracket

 * Division winner

Bold Series winner

Italic Team with home-court advantage

(3) Washington Bullets vs. (6) Atlanta Hawks
This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with both teams split the first two meetings while both teams were in Baltimore and St. Louis respectively.

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) New York Knicks
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(3) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(4) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (5) Los Angeles Lakers
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(1) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (5) New York Knicks
This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with the 76ers winning four of the first six meetings.

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (3) Washington Bullets
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(1) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (4) Seattle SuperSonics

 * Bill Walton's final game in a Portland Trail Blazer uniform.

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(2) Denver Nuggets vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(1) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (3) Washington Bullets

 * After a jump ball with three seconds left, Doug Collins hits the game-tying shot at the buzzer to send it to OT.

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bullets winning the first meeting while in Baltimore.

(2) Denver Nuggets vs. (4) Seattle SuperSonics
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

NBA Finals: (W4) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (E3) Washington Bullets

 * "Downtown" Freddie Brown scores 16 of his points in the 4th quarter to lead the Sonics back from a 19-point deficit.


 * This was the last time until 2016 that a road team defeated the home team in Game 7 of the Finals.

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.