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. As of the 2021–22 season[update], 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.
Game two was the only NBA playoff game at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[1]
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Hawks winning the only previous meeting.
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[3]
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[4]
This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Wizards/Bullets winning two of the first three meetings.
This was the first meeting between these two teams.[6]
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the SuperSonics winning the first meeting.
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams.[8]
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bullets winning the first meeting.
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.
This was the second Finals meeting between these two teams, with the Bullets winning the first meeting.