1979 NBA playoffs

The 1979 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association’s 1978–79 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. The Sonics earned their only NBA title. Dennis Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP.

The Finals was a rematch of 1978, in which Washington defeated Seattle 4–3. , this remains the last time the Bullets (now the Wizards) have advanced as far as the Conference Finals. They have the longest conference finals drought of any team in the four major professional sports in North America.

The Spurs made their first visit to the Conference Finals in these playoffs.

This was the first time that three of the former ABA teams made the playoffs, as it was the NBA playoff debut of the New Jersey Nets.

This was the first time both conference finals went to a deciding Game 7 since 1963 and the last until 2018.

Bracket

 * Division winner

Bold Series winner

Italic Team with home-court advantage

(3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) New Jersey Nets
Game two was the only NBA playoff game at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(4) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Hawks winning the only previous meeting.

(3) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Portland Trail Blazers
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

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

(1) Washington Bullets vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks
This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Wizards/Bullets winning two of the first three meetings.

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (3) Philadelphia 76ers

 * Maurice Cheeks hits game winning shot with 10 seconds remaining.

This was the first meeting between these two teams.

(1) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (5) Los Angeles Lakers

 * This would be the last playoff series for Los Angeles without Magic Johnson until 1992.

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the SuperSonics winning the first meeting.

(2) Kansas City Kings vs. (3) Phoenix Suns
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.

(1) Washington Bullets vs. (2) San Antonio Spurs

 * Bob Dandridge hits series-winning shot with 8 seconds remaining; Washington becomes the 3rd team in NBA history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit.

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

(1) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (3) Phoenix Suns
In a Mother's Day thriller, the game went down to the wire in intense fashion. The Sonics had just come back from a 8 point deficit in the 4th quarter and were leading 106-105 with 52 seconds to go in regulation. In the Suns' possession, Walter Davis appeared to have scored, but committed a traveling violation with 41 seconds left. On the next play, Sonics player Gus Williams' shot came up short. Phoenix grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 16 seconds left, with a chance to clinch their 2nd NBA Finals berth. Walter Davis' high-arc shot also came up short, and the ball went out-of-bounds last touched by a Sonics' player with one second left. The Suns' last chance, Gar Heard's potential game-winning shot, was an airball, meaning the SuperSonics forced a 7th game in Seattle on Thursday.

With the score 112-104 in favor of Seattle with just 20 seconds left, it appeared to be all over, but the Phoenix Suns would not quit easily. After the Suns scored 4 unanswered points, Paul Westphal stole an inbounds pass and drove to the basket for a score, getting fouled by Wally Walker. This made it a 2 point game and sent Westphal to the line with just 4 seconds left. Suns coach John MacLeod called a timeout to decide what to do on the free throw attempt. The Suns elected to intentionally miss and try to score off an offensive rebound, but the rebound went to the Sonics' Jack Sikma, who was intentionally fouled and made both free throws to give the Sonics the Western Conference for the 2nd straight year.

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Suns winning the previous meeting.

NBA Finals: (E1) Washington Bullets vs. (W1) Seattle SuperSonics

 * Larry Wright makes the game winning free throws with one second remaining.


 * Dennis Johnson blocks Kevin Grevey with 4 seconds left to seal it.

This was the second Finals meeting between these two teams, with the Bullets winning the first meeting.