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(Top) 1 Draft picks 2 Roster 3 Regular season 3.1 Season standings 3.2 Record vs. opponents 4 Playoffs 5 References

1975–76 Detroit Pistons season

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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

< 1974–75

1976–77 >

The 1975–76 NBA season was the Detroit Pistons' 28th season in the NBA and 19th season in the city of Detroit.^[1] The team played at Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit.

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."^[2] He was replaced by assistant Herb Brown.^[3]

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).^[4] 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.^[5]

Draft picks[edit]

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

Roster[edit]

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[edit]

Season standings[edit]

Midwest Division v t e	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 v t e
#	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[edit]

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[edit]

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