1975-76 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Jo Jo White. White was named Finals MVP for the champion Celtics, highlighted by his 33-point performance in the triple-overtime Game 5.

Series context

The 1975-76 NBA Finals matched the veteran Boston Celtics, built around Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, and Jo Jo White under coach Tom Heinsohn, against the surprising Phoenix Suns, a young team led by rookie center Alvan Adams and guard Paul Westphal that had overachieved to reach the championship round. Boston opened the series dominantly, winning Game 1 at home 98-87 behind a Cowens triple-double and Game 2, 105-90, thanks to a decisive third-quarter run. Phoenix responded to avoid a sweep, winning Game 3 at home 105-98 as Adams scored 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to erase a large deficit, a game marred by a bench-clearing altercation. The Suns evened the series in Game 4, 109-107, on a late bank shot. Game 5, played in Boston, became legendary as one of the most dramatic games in league history. The teams battled through triple overtime, with the game featuring bizarre and controversial sequences, including a disputed timeout call on Phoenix and a fan interfering with a potential game-tying free throw. Jo Jo White scored 33 points and reserve Glenn McDonald scored all of his points in the overtime periods, and Boston ultimately prevailed 128-126. The Celtics closed out the championship in Game 6 back in Phoenix, winning 87-80 behind Charlie Scott's 25 points and 11 rebounds after a series-long shooting slump, clinching Boston's 13th NBA title. This Finals occurred on the eve of the ABA-NBA merger, which would take effect for the following season and bring four ABA franchises into the NBA. The series is remembered less for the Celtics' dominance and more for the sheer drama and chaos of Game 5, still regularly cited among the most memorable games in league history, and it capped an era in which Boston, despite no longer having Bill Russell, remained the league's model franchise. Boston finished the regular season 54-28, and had to survive a grueling six-game Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland, a series later nicknamed the "Miracle of Richfield," after also needing six games to beat Buffalo. Phoenix, by contrast, went just 42-40 in the regular season and entered the playoffs as a decided underdog, but upset the top-seeded, defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors in a seven-game conference finals after also beating Seattle in six, becoming one of the more surprising Finals participants of the decade. Game 5's chaos went beyond the final score. Trailing late in the second overtime, Phoenix's Curtis Perry hit a basket to put the Suns ahead before Havlicek's own driving bank shot appeared to win it for Boston at the buzzer, sending Celtics fans spilling onto the parquet in celebration; referee Richie Powers had to fight through the crowd, and a fan struck him, before order was restored and Powers correctly ruled one second remained. Facing a nearly impossible situation with no timeouts left, Suns guard Paul Westphal instructed coach John MacLeod to call one anyway, conceding a technical free throw to Boston in exchange for the ball at halfcourt rather than under Phoenix's own basket; Jo Jo White made the technical shot, but Garfield Heard then buried a turnaround jumper from just inside halfcourt as time expired to force a third overtime, a shot still replayed as one of the most clutch in Finals history. White, who logged roughly 60 total minutes in the game, was reportedly so spent that he sat on the floor during a teammate's free throws before Boston finally won it.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 1976 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 1976 NBA Finals
• Boston.com - The 1976 Celtics, the Suns, and the greatest game ever played