1973-74 NBA Season Standings

The Boston Celtics won their 12th championship, beating Milwaukee in seven games in the Finals, with John Havlicek's steal-and-layup near the end of the decisive Game 7 becoming one of the franchise's signature playoff moments. The Baltimore franchise played this single season as the "Capital Bullets" (reflecting its new home at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland) before renaming to the Washington Bullets the following year. The league remained at 17 teams, split evenly-ish into the Atlantic and Central divisions in the East and the Midwest and Pacific divisions in the West, the same broad structure that would persist with adjustments for the rest of the decade. Milwaukee's 59-23 mark, powered by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his last full season with the Bucks before being traded to the Lakers, gave the Western Conference its best regular-season record even though Boston ultimately prevailed in the championship series.