May 25, 1975: The Warriors Are Golden

May 25, 1975, 50 years ago: The most stunning upset in the history of the NBA Finals is completed.

The Baltimore Bullets had made the NBA Finals in 1971, but got swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. They moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Washington in 1973. Well, not quite: After playing a few home games at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House while waiting for their new arena to be finished, they settled at that new arena, the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, just outside the Capital Beltway.

They played the 1973-74 season as the Capital Bullets, before changing their name to the Washington Bullets. And, in 1974-75, led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, they reached the NBA Finals again. Their opponents would be another team that went through more name changes than was necessary. The Philadelphia Warriors were a charter franchise in the NBA in 1946, but moved to San Francisco in 1962. In 1971, they moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, but took on the name "Golden State Warriors."

Much like baseball's California Angels, who tried to draw fans Statewide in an effort to draw more fans than the nearby Los Angeles Dodgers, the Warriors weren't fooling anybody with their Statewide name. At least, unlike the Angels, they no longer had to compete with another team: The ABA's Oakland Oaks had moved in 1969, becoming the Washington Caps, and then the Virginia Squires in 1970.

Coached by former Boston Celtics star K.C. Jones, the Bullets went 60-22, and won the Central Division. They beat the Buffalo Braves in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the defending Champion Celtics in the Conference Finals.

Coached by former Warriors player Al Attles, Golden State went 48-34, and won the Pacific Division. They beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference Semifinals, and the Chicago Bulls in the Conference Finals.

In spite of having won 12 fewer games than the Bullets, and having lost 3 out of 4 regular-season games against them, the Warriors were the top seed in the West, while the Bullets were the 2nd seed in the East. Still, the Bullets were heavily favored, with many observers predicting a sweep.

They got a sweep, all right, but not in the direction they expected. Game 1 was played at the Cap Centre, and Phil Smith came off the bench to score 20 points in 31 minutes, and the Warriors won, 101-95.

The odds seemed to be against the Warriors, because the Oakland Coliseum Arena was unavailable, as they were hosting the Ice Follies. Games 2 and 3 were moved to the Warriors' former home, the Grand National Livestock Pavilion, a.k.a. the Cow Palace, across the City Line in Daly City, California. Not on their usual home court, could the Warriors possibly win?

Yes, they could; and, yes, they did. They erased an early 13-point Washington lead thanks to 36 points from Rick Barry, and won Game 2, 92-91. Barry, probably best known as one of the greatest free-throw shooters ever, scored 38 points in Game 3, and the Warriors won, 109-101.

Keith Wilkes, later to change his name to Jamaal Wilkes and help the Lakers win titles in the 1980s, held Hayes to just 29 points in the 1st 3 games. Over that stretch, the Warriors' bench outscored the Bullets' bench, 115-53.

Game 4 was played back in Landover, and featured a fight that was started when the Bullets' Mike Riordan fouled Barry hard. Attles, a former guard known as The Destroyer, ran onto the court to defend his fellow New Jerseyan -- Attles was from Newark, Barry from 2 towns away in Roselle Park -- and "took one for the team," getting physical with Riordan and getting thrown out of the game, so Barry wouldn't be. Assistant coach Joe Roberts coached the Warriors the rest of the way.

The fight seemed to take the fight out of the Bullets, as they blew a 14-point lead, and the Warriors won, 96-95. The San Francisco Bay Area had its 1st NBA Championship.

The District of Columbia would have to wait until 1978, when the Bullets beat the SuperSonics. The Sonics reversed that result the following year. The capital team, which renamed itself the Washington Wizards in 1997, the year they moved into the District proper, into what's now named the Capital One Arena, haven't been to the Eastern Conference Finals since.

The Warriors also struggled a lot, until the Stephen Curry era began, and they won 4 titles and made 2 other Finals. Indeed, given how much basketball talent came out of the D.C. and Bay areas, great high school players and great college programs, the pro team in D.C. has seriously-under-achieved, and so did the pro team in the Bay Area until 2015.

From May 25 to October 22, 1975, 150 days, not just the San Francisco Bay Area, but specifically the City of Oakland, held the World Championships of baseball and basketball at the same time. It was part of an extraordinary 10-year run from December 31, 1967 to January 1, 1978, that saw Oakland win 5 American League Western Division titles; win 10 AFC Western Division titles, and reach the AFL or AFC Championship Game 9 times, including 2 Championships; reach the NBA Western Conference Finals 4 times, winning once; culminating in winning 3 World Series, a Super Bowl, an NBA Championship, an ABA Championship, and a National Professional Soccer League Championship:

* Oakland Clippers, 1967 NPSL Champions.

* Oakland Raiders, 1967 AFL Champions, 1976 NFL Champions.

* Oakland Oaks, 1969 ABA Champions.

* Oakland Athletics, 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Champions.

* Golden State Warriors, 1975 NBA Champions.

All this, while, across the Bay, San Francisco lost the Warriors to Oakland, saw the Giants and the 49ers continually let their city down, and nearly lost the Giants to Toronto.

However, by the time that 10-year period ended, the City of Oakland would lose its NHL team, its ABA team, and its NPSL team; and set in motion the process that would eventually cause it to see its NBA team move back across San Francisco Bay, and lose its MLB team, and lose its NFL team, gain it back, and lose it again.