1977-78 A nasty incident cast a shadow over the game - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penalized.
1977-78 A nasty incident cast a shadow over the game - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
penalized.
A nasty incident cast a shadow over the game. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke the
hand of a Milwaukee rookie center Kent Benson, for which he was fined $5,000
from the NBA Commissioner David Stern. In addition, he missed 20 games, hurting
the Lakers chances in the Playoffs. Another incident occurred in December.
Kermit Washington, a forward for the Lakers, got into a fight with Houston
center Kevin Kunnert. A Houston's star Rudy Tomjanovich was injured during that
fight and Washington was suspended for two months and paid a $50,000 fine.
Portland had won a league-high 58 games during the season, but due to Bill
Walton's injury, they didn't qualified to the Finals. Two teams met in the
Finals, Washington and Seattle, the Bullets won over the Sonics 2-3 in seven
games.
The Bulltes' coach Dick Motta and 10-time NBA All-Star Elvin Hayes were
two different personalities. In 1978, they compromised their different game
philosophies and they managed to get the only NBA title in their team's history.
"We have enough talents on the team," Hayes said, "We have Mitch Kupchak, Larry
Wright, Charles Johnson and Greg Ballard, and an excellent support form off the
bench. Each of these players could be a great starter on another team. In the
first five, we have Unseld, (Kevin) Grevey, Tommy Henderson, Bobby Dandridge and
me.
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