1975–76 Detroit Pistons season

The 1975–76 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 28th season in the NBA and 19th season in the city of Detroit. The team played at Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit.

1975–76 Detroit Pistons season
Head coach	Ray Scott (fired) Herb Brown
General manager	Oscar Feldman
Owner(s)	Bill Davidson
Arena	Cobo Arena
Results
Record	36–46 (.439)
Place	Division: 2nd (Midwest) Conference: 5th (Western)
Playoff finish	Conference semifinals (lost to Warriors 2–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

The Pistons made a major move in the off-season, trading perennial All-Star Dave Bing to the Washington Bullets for NBA assist leader Kevin Porter. Porter would only play 19 games for the Pistons in 1975–76, missing the bulk of the season with an injury. Bing represented Washington at the 1976 NBA All-Star Game, honored as the game MVP. The team also made a move at mid-season, firing coach Ray Scott. Greg Eno from Out of Bounds described his January dismissal, "Thirty years ago and a month, Scott was conducting practice -- the Pistons were in a terrible slump at the time -- and management strode onto the court, relieved Ray Scott of his silver whistle, and marched him off the court to give him the Ziggy -- that Detroit word for a coach getting fired. The Pistons hadn't yet learned to act with class in 1976. They were still a bush league franchise, even though Bing and Scott and Lanier had combined to put pro basketball on the map in Detroit. So the firing of Scott -- in front of his stunned players -- in January 1976 was done with all the subtlety of July 4th fireworks." He was replaced by assistant Herb Brown.

The Pistons finished with a 36-46 (.439) record, 2nd place in the Midwest Division. The team was led by forward Curtis Rowe (16.0 ppg, 8.7 apg, NBA All-Star) and center Bob Lanier (21.3 ppg, 11.7 rpg). Detroit advanced to the 1976 NBA Playoffs, winning 10 of their 11 final games, and then won their first round series of the Western Conference playoffs 2–1 over the Milwaukee Bucks, the team's first playoff series win since the 1961-62 Detroit Pistons season. Detroit won the deciding 3rd game of the series in Milwaukee 107–104, securing the win with a late Chris Ford steal. The team then fell to the Golden State Warriors 4–2 in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, dropping the 6th game in overtime 118–116 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

Draft picks

Main article: 1975 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
4	64	Lindsay Hairston	Forward	United States	Michigan State
9	151	Terry Thomas	Forward	United States	Detroit

Roster

Detroit Pistons roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 20 Brown, Roger 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1950-02-23 Kansas SG 11 Clark, Archie 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1941-07-15 Minnesota SG 22 Dickerson, Henry 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1951-11-27 College of Charleston SF 44 Eberhard, Al 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1952-05-10 Missouri SG 42 Ford, Chris 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1949-01-11 Villanova SF 45 Hairston, Lindsay 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1951-12-08 Michigan State C 16 Lanier, Bob 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1948-09-10 St. Bonaventure SG 15 Mengelt, John 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1949-10-16 Auburn PG 14 Money, Eric 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1955-02-06 Arizona SF 54 Porter, Howard 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1948-08-31 Villanova PG 10 Porter, Kevin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1950-04-17 Saint Francis (PA) PF 18 Rowe, Curtis 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1949-07-02 UCLA PF 50 Thomas, Terry 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1953-08-20 Detroit Mercy PF 31 Trapp, George 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1948-07-11 Long Beach State

Head coach Herb Brown Assistant coach(es) Jim Davis Mike Abdenour (trainer) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster Last transaction: February 24, 1976

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	–	22–19	16–25	13–8
x-Detroit Pistons	36	46	.439	2	24–17	12–29	12–9
Kansas City Kings	31	51	.378	7	25–16	6–35	10–11
Chicago Bulls	24	58	.293	14	15–26	9–32	7–14

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Golden State Warriors	59	23	.720	–
2	x-Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	16
3	x-Phoenix Suns	42	40	.512	17
4	y-Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	21
5	x-Detroit Pistons	36	46	.439	23
6	Los Angeles Lakers	40	42	.488	19
7	Portland Trail Blazers	37	45	.451	22
8	Kansas City Kings	31	51	.378	28
9	Chicago Bulls	24	58	.293	35

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1975–76 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	BUF	CHI	CLE	DET	GSW	HOU	KCK	LAL	MIL	NOJ	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SEA	WAS
Atlanta	—	2–3	2–3	2–2	2–5	1–3	2–2	2–5	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–4	3–2	2–3	0–4	2–2	1–3	1–5
Boston	3–2	—	4–3	2–2	3–2	4–0	2–2	4–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	4–1	5–2	4–3	4–0	2–2	2–2	3–2
Buffalo	3–2	3–4	—	3–1	3–2	1–3	1–3	3–2	4–0	2–2	3–1	4–1	4–3	3–4	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–3
Chicago	2–2	2–2	1–3	—	0–4	3–4	1–4	1–3	1–6	3–2	3–4	2–2	0–4	0–4	2–3	1–4	2–3	0–4
Cleveland	5–2	2–3	2–3	4–0	—	2–2	1–3	2–4	1–3	2–2	4–0	4–3	3–2	3–2	3–1	4–0	3–1	4–2
Detroit	3–1	0–4	3–1	4–3	2–2	—	0–5	2–2	5–2	1–4	3–4	1–3	3–1	1–3	1–4	2–3	3–2	2–2
Golden State	2–2	2–2	3–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	—	2–2	4–1	5–2	5–0	2–2	4–0	3–1	4–2	4–2	4–3	3–1
Houston	5–2	1–4	2–3	3–1	4–2	2–2	2–2	—	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–4	3–2	3–2	0–4	3–1	2–2	3–4
Kansas City	2–2	2–2	0–4	6–1	3–1	2–5	1–4	2–2	—	2–3	2–5	1–3	1–3	1–3	3–2	0–5	2–3	1–3
Los Angeles	3–1	0–4	2–2	2–3	2–2	4–1	2–5	3–1	3–2	—	2–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–4	3–4	3–3	1–3
Milwaukee	2–2	2–2	1–3	4–3	0–4	4–3	0–5	2–2	5–2	3–2	—	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–2	2–3	2–3	2–2
New Orleans	4–2	1–4	1–4	2–2	3–4	3–1	2–2	4–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	—	2–3	1–4	1–3	3–1	1–3	4–3
New York	2–3	2–5	3–4	4–0	2–3	1–3	0–4	2–3	3–1	1–3	2–2	3–2	—	5–2	2–2	3–1	0–4	3–2
Philadelphia	3–2	3–4	4–3	4–0	2–3	3–1	1–3	2–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	4–1	2–5	—	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–3
Phoenix	4–0	0–4	1–3	3–2	1–3	4–1	2–4	4–0	2–3	4–2	2–3	3–1	2–2	1–3	—	5–2	4–3	0–4
Portland	2–2	2–2	2–2	4–1	0–4	3–2	2–4	1–3	5–0	4–3	3–2	1–3	1–3	0–4	2–5	—	3–3	2–2
Seattle	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–2	1–3	2–3	3–4	2–2	3–2	3–3	3–2	3–1	4–0	2–2	3–4	3–3	—	1–3
Washington	5–1	2–3	3–2	4–0	2–4	2–2	1–3	4–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	3–4	2–3	3–2	4–0	2–2	3–1	—

Playoffs

1976 playoff game log
First Round: 2–1 (home: 1–0; road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 13 @ Milwaukee L 107–110 Bob Lanier (25) Bob Lanier (15) Lanier, Clark (6) MECCA Arena 8,912 0–1 2 April 16 Milwaukee W 126–123 Bob Lanier (35) Curtis Rowe (10) Money, Clark (5) Cobo Arena 8,330 1–1 3 April 18 @ Milwaukee W 107–104 Bob Lanier (28) Bob Lanier (12) Eric Money (8) MECCA Arena 8,213 2–1
Conference semifinals: 2–4 (home: 1–2; road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 20 @ Golden State L 103–127 Bob Lanier (18) Bob Lanier (16) Chris Ford (7) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 0–1 2 April 22 @ Golden State W 123–111 Curtis Rowe (33) Curtis Rowe (10) Chris Ford (9) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 1–1 3 April 24 Golden State L 96–113 Bob Lanier (23) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (8) Cobo Arena 10,022 1–2 4 April 26 Golden State W 106–102 Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (11) Eric Money (7) Cobo Arena 11,389 2–2 5 April 28 @ Golden State L 109–128 Howard Porter (20) Bob Lanier (12) Archie Clark (5) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 13,067 2–3 6 April 30 Golden State L 116–118 (OT) Bob Lanier (30) Bob Lanier (16) Eric Money (9) Cobo Arena 10,361 2–4
1976 schedule