1979–80 NBA season

34th NBA season December 2022 August 2017 1979–80 NBA season National Basketball Association Basketball * October 12, 1979 – March 30, 1980 April 2 – 30, 1980 (Playoffs) May 4 – 16, 1980 (Finals) 82 22 CBS, USA Draft 1979 NBA draft List of first overall NBA draft picks Magic Johnson Los Angeles Lakers Regular season Boston Celtics Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles) NBA MVP George Gervin (San Antonio) Playoffs 1980 NBA playoffs Eastern Eastern Conference (NBA) Philadelphia 76ers Boston Celtics Western Western Conference (NBA) Los Angeles Lakers Seattle SuperSonics Finals 1980 NBA Finals Los Angeles Lakers Philadelphia 76ers Magic Johnson (Los Angeles) NBA Finals MVP List of NBA seasons NBA 1978–79 NBA season 1978–79 1980–81 NBA season 1980–81 The 1979–80 NBA season was the 34th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA championship, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals, and is notable for being the year in which the three-point field goal was adopted. Notable occurrences An unbalanced schedule is adopted. Teams play each of the other 10 teams within their own conference six times, and the 11 teams from the opposite conference twice each. The NBA officially adopts the three-point field goal. Boston Celtics guard Chris Ford made the first three-pointer on October 12, 1979, against the Houston Rockets. The number of officials is reduced from three to two following a one-season experiment with three-man officiating crews. The three-official system will be re-adopted permanently for the 1988–89 season. The Jazz relocate from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Salt Lake City, Utah, and move from the Central Division to the Midwest Division (with the Indiana Pacers replacing them). The Kansas City Kings are forced to play most of the season at the Municipal Auditorium after the roof at Kemper Arena collapses due to high wind on June 4, 1979. The Kings played the 1972–73 and 1973–74 seasons at Municipal Auditorium while splitting their home schedule between Kansas City and Omaha. Jerry Buss purchases the Los Angeles Lakers franchise from Jack Kent Cooke prior to the season. The 1980 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, with the East defeating the West 144–136 in overtime. George Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs wins the game's MVP award. This was the first season the NBA had a cable television partner. The USA Network signed a three-year, 1.5 million dollar deal. This was both Magic Johnson’s and Larry Bird’s rookie seasons and is considered to be the birth of the modern game.Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated Serrano Shea Harry N. Abrams 2017 978-1419726477 New York Introduction Darryl Dawkins broke two backboards: one at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium on November 13, 1979, and a second backboard 23 days later at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Because his dunks resulted in delays while teams went to find another backboard, the NBA eventually modified their basketball rims to make them collapsible. Former NBA official and CBS analyst Mendy Rudolph died on July 4, 1979. All NBA referee shirts sport the No. 5 patch in his honor, and it was retired permanently. Finishing 16–66, the Detroit Pistons suffer the worst NBA record since the infamous 1972–73 76ers won only nine games. In between, no team had won fewer than 22 in a season, but expansion and the availability of more-skilled players from overseas made such poor records more common in subsequent seasons.See Berri, David J., Brook, Stacey L., Frick, Bernd, Fenn, Aju J. and Vicente-Mayoral, Roberto; ‘The Short Supply of Tall People: Competitive Imbalance and the National Basketball Association’; Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Dec. 2005), pp. 1029–1041 It was the final season for future hall of famers Rick Barry, Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe and Pete Maravich. Boston Celtics center Dave Cowens also originally retired after the season, but came back a few years later to play for the Milwaukee Bucks. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won MVP for the sixth time in his career, which remains the league's record-best. +Coaching changesOffseason Team 1978–79 coach 1979–80 coach Boston Celtics Dave Cowens Bill Fitch Chicago Bulls Scotty Robertson Jerry Sloan Cleveland Cavaliers Bill Fitch Stan Albeck Houston Rockets Tom Nissalke Del Harris Los Angeles Lakers Jerry West Jack McKinney New Orleans/Utah Jazz Elgin Baylor Tom NissalkeIn-season Team Outgoing coach Incoming coach Detroit Pistons Dick Vitale Richie Adubato Golden State Warriors Al Attles Johnny Bach San Antonio Spurs Doug Moe Bob Bass Los Angeles Lakers Jack McKinney Paul Westhead Final standings By division By conference Notes z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs and first round bye c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs and first round bye y – Clinched division title and first round bye x – Clinched playoff spot Playoffs 1980 NBA playoffs Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics. 1980 NBA playoffs Bracket yes no Statistics leaders + Category Player Team Stat Points per game George Gervin San Antonio Spurs 33.1 Rebounds per game Swen Nater San Diego Clippers 15.0 Assists per game Micheal Ray Richardson New York Knicks 10.1 Steals per game Micheal Ray Richardson New York Knicks 3.23 Blocks per game Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Los Angeles Lakers 3.41 FG% Cedric Maxwell Boston Celtics .609 FT% Rick Barry Houston Rockets .935 3FG% Fred Brown Seattle SuperSonics .443 NBA awards Most Valuable Player: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers Rookie of the Year: Larry Bird, Boston Celtics Coach of the Year: Bill Fitch, Boston Celtics 66% 33% All-NBA First Team: G – Paul Westphal, Phoenix Suns G – George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs F – Julius Erving, Philadelphia 76ers F – Larry Bird, Boston Celtics C – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers 33% All-NBA Second Team: F – Dan Roundfield, Atlanta Hawks F – Marques Johnson, Milwaukee Bucks C – Moses Malone, Houston Rockets G – Dennis Johnson, Seattle SuperSonics G – Gus Williams, Seattle SuperSonics 33% 33% All-NBA Rookie Team: Larry Bird, Boston Celtics Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers Bill Cartwright, New York Knicks David Greenwood, Chicago Bulls Calvin Natt, Portland Trail Blazers 66% 33% NBA All-Defensive First Team: Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers Dan Roundfield, Atlanta Hawks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers Dennis Johnson, Seattle SuperSonics Don Buse, Phoenix Suns (tie) Micheal Ray Richardson, New York Knicks (tie) 33% NBA All-Defensive Second Team: Scott Wedman, Kansas City Kings Kermit Washington, Portland Trail Blazers Dave Cowens, Boston Celtics Quinn Buckner, Milwaukee Bucks Eddie Johnson, Atlanta Hawks Players of the week WeekPlayerOct 12 – 21Julius Erving (Philadelphia 76ers) (1/1)Oct 22 – 28Michael Ray Richardson (New York Knicks) (1/1)Oct 29 – Nov 4Marques Johnson (Milwaukee Bucks) (1/1)Nov 5 – 11Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) (1/2)Nov 12 – 18Phil Ford (Kansas City Kings) (1/1)Nov 19 – 25Walter Davis (Phoenix Suns) (1/1)Nov 26 – Dec 2Adrian Dantley (Utah Jazz) (1/1)Dec 3 – 9Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) (1/2)Dec 10 – 16Dan Roundfield (Atlanta Hawks) (1/1)Dec 17 – 23Swen Nater (San Diego Clippers) (1/1)Dec 24 – 30Mike Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) (1/1)Dec 31 – Jan 6Scott Wedman (Kansas City Kings) (1/1)Jan 7 – 13Greg Ballard (Washington Bullets) (1/1)Jan 14 – 20Dennis Johnson (Seattle SuperSonics) (1/1)Jan 21 – 27George Gervin (San Antonio Spurs) (1/1)Feb 4 – 10Rick Barry (Houston Rockets) (1/1)Feb 11 – 17Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) (2/2)Feb 18 – 24Calvin Natt (New Jersey Nets) (1/1)Feb 25 – Mar 3Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) (1/1)Mar 4 – 10Cliff Robinson (New Jersey Nets) (1/1)Mar 11 – 17Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) (2/2)Mar 18 – 24Billy Ray Bates (Portland Trail Blazers) (1/1)Mar 25 – 31Kevin Grevey (Washington Bullets) (1/1) Players of the month MonthPlayerNovemberMoses Malone (Houston Rockets) (1/1)DecemberKareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) (1/1)JanuaryGeorge Gervin (San Antonio Spurs) (1/1)FebruaryLarry Bird (Boston Celtics) (1/1)MarchJulius Erving (Philadelphia 76ers) (1/1) See also List of NBA regular season records References