1978 NBA Finals: Washington vs Seattle Game 7

Dennis Johnson, who before the 1977-78 playoffs was a relatively unknown guard from Pepperdine University, had grown into a star in this series in front of a national TV audience. However, DJ would miss every one of his 14 shots in this game. Fellow guard Gus Williams was a bit more accurate, shooting 4-for-12. SuperSonics big men Marvin Webster scored 27 points and Jack Sikma 21 to take up the slack, and that kept it close.

With 90 seconds left, Seattle whittled the lead from 11 points down to four, but Mitch Kupchak came up with a three-point play. Fred Brown, who finished with 21 points off the bench, hit a short jumper, then Paul Silas got a tip-in to cut it to 101-99. Silas then fouled Wes Unseld, a 55-percent shooter from the line during the playoffs. He hit two free throws, and moments later Washington sealed it with a Bob Dandridge dunk, 105-99.

Charles Johnson and Dandridge each scored 19 points for the Bullets, while Elvin Hayes fouled out with 12 points, a development that brought a couple of needling questions from the writers about his past failures in the playoffs. Unseld would be named Finals MVP.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• unseld
• hayes
• johnson
• sikma

[68f100gfys]

@878478 HILARIOUS!!!!!!

[878478]

3:00 has to be one of the worst NBA flops I've ever seen...lol

[tellthetruthg]

the GSW beat them 4-0 the year before. Too bad Gus Williams didn't stick around for that

[funkyflights]

Sonics got there revenge the next year winning the World Championship 4 games to 1..... That's what was so sweet about it.... LOVED those old Bullet-Sonics match-ups back in the day...

[landrykkb]

If you look at it that way,the Sonics had overachieved that season by being in a position to win the NBA Championship in the first place in Game 7!

[FrsBigeasy]

Bullets should of won this Finals as well as the 1975 Finals against Oakland. This club underachieved in the 1970's.

[d820m]

That RV show at the Coliseum cost us the 1978 championship...we would have not lost at the Coliseum.....

[bigpapamd1]

unseld is a uncle tom & every1 who followed the bullets/wizards know this, ask MJ!!! elvin was & still is the best all around player this organization has ever had!!!

[alcorderyjr]

... WHILE LEADING THE ENTIRE NBA IN MINUTES PLAYED HIS 1ST 3 YEARS N THE LEAGUE! did i mention HE DIDN'T MISS 1 GAME his entire time playing 4 the rockets?, n fact he only missed 9 games 4 his entire career! he played 50,000 minutes & then called it a career. the bullets were just a better team where all elvin had 2 do was play basketball, he didn't have 2 b the savior like they wanted him 2 b n houston/ san diego. e was the leading scorer & best defender on a team that made the finals 3 times.

[alcorderyjr]

I have 2 disagree with both u & ariamaluum, my family is from the DC-Baltimore area & Elvin was a huge part of the success the Bullets had n the '70's. n houston/ san diego they wanted him 2 b the savior of a horrible franchise, n fact, E was criticized 4 ne & everything that went wrong with the rockets, which was totally unjustified, especially with the effort this guy put out night n & night out. He led the NBA n scoring as a rookie (28.4 ppg) & total rebounds n his 2nd year (1386) ...