The1979 NBA World Championship Series was thechampionship series played at the conclusion of theNational Basketball Association (NBA)'s1978–79 season. TheWestern Conference championSeattle SuperSonics played theEastern Conference championWashington Bullets, with the Bullets holding home-court advantage, due to a better regular season record. The SuperSonics defeated the Bullets in five quick games for their first championship in franchise history. The series was a rematch of theprevious year’s NBA Finals, which the Bullets won in seven games.

Dennis Johnson of the SuperSonics was named as theNBA Finals MVP, whileGus Williams of the SuperSonics was the top scorer, averaging 28.6 points per game.

This was Seattle's second men's professional sports championship, following theSeattle Metropolitans' victory in the1917 Stanley Cup Finals. The city's next title wouldn't be until2014 when theSeattle Seahawks wonSuper Bowl XLVIII.

This was the franchise's only championship until the2025 NBA Finals, when they were theOklahoma City Thunder. It is also, to date, the last time the Bullets/Wizards have appeared in the Finals.

Both the1978 and 1979 NBA Finals were informally dubbed the "George Washington series", because both teams were playing in places named after the firstPresident of the United States (the SuperSonics representedSeattle, Washington while the Bullets representedWashington, D.C., albeit playing in nearbyLandover, Maryland).

This was a rematch of the1978 NBA Finals, which the Bullets won 4–3. Seattle lostMarvin Webster to theNew York Knicks but acquiredLonnie Shelton in exchange. Other than that, both teams' rosters stayed virtually intact. Unlike the previous year, both teams finished 1–2 in the NBA, with the Bullets topping the league at 54 wins; the Sonics with 52 wins. In the playoffs, Seattle defeated theLos Angeles Lakers 4–1 and thePhoenix Suns 4–3, while Washington had a much tougher road, eliminating theAtlanta Hawks in an unexpectedly tough seven-game series and coming back from a 3–1 deficit to eliminate theSan Antonio Spurs in seven. Both earned a first-round bye.

The Finals were carried byCBS television (the network'sNBA on CBS aired league games from 1973 to 1990), withBrent Musburger as the lead announcer. The 1979 Finals has been preserved in full, unlike the previous year's, in which Games 2, 3 and 4 are missing. (Except for 1978, all NBA Finals since1975 have been completely preserved.)

The teams split the four-game series in the regular season:

^[1]

The Bullets controlled the game and led by 18 in the fourth, but Seattle mounted a furious comeback to tie it at 97.Larry Wright, who had 26 points off the bench, drove to the basket as time ran down and had his shot blocked byDennis Johnson, but the referees called a foul on Johnson. Wright went to the line with one second left and hit two of three foul shots (NBA rules at the time awarded an extra free throw attempt when a team was in the penalty foul situation) to win the game.^[2]

Elvin Hayes had 11 points in the first quarter, but only nine the rest of the way as Seattle turned its defense up a notch, holding the Bullets to 30 points in the second half.

Outside of the two metropolitan areas of the competing teams, as well asBaltimore andPortland, the game was shown on tape delay beginning at 11:35Eastern andPacific/10:35 p.m.Central andMountain. This was the first of six championship series games shown by CBS on tape delay over a three-season span. Four of the six games in the championship seriestwo years later were shown on tape delay outside of the markets of the competing clubs.

Seattle dominated this game, which wasn't as close as the final margin indicated.Gus Williams scored 31 points,Jack Sikma had 21 and 17 rebounds, andDennis Johnson had a fine all-around game with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and two blocked shots.

^[3]The Sonics won a close one in OT 114–112, staving off a late Bullets comeback behind 36 points byGus Williams and 32 byDennis Johnson. Williams and Johnson dominated the Bullets' guards all series, as they were plagued by poor shooting. Johnson also had four blocks in the game, the last on Kevin Grevey with 4 seconds left to ensure the Seattle victory.

^[4]Back home,Elvin Hayes had a hot first half, scoring 20, but injuries to starting guardsTom Henderson,Kevin Grevey and prolonged poor shooting by their replacements took their toll. Hayes had only nine points in the second half as Seattle closed out the series.^[5]

Seattle SuperSonics

Washington Bullets

^[6]

Until2023, this was the most recent time that a Western Conference team not based inTexas orCalifornia has won an NBA title, and the last of only two occasions alongsidethe 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers when a team from the present-dayNorthwest Division has won the league title, which is by 27 years the longest league championship drought for any division of the four major North American sports leagues.^{[note 1]} Since then, the following Western teams have gone on to win an NBA title:the Los Angeles Lakers (eleven times),the San Antonio Spurs (five times),the Golden State Warriors (four times),the Houston Rockets (twice), andthe Dallas Mavericks (once). The remaining twenty-one titles since 1980 have been won by Eastern Conference teams.^{[note 2]}

1979 represents the last year the Bullets/Wizards franchise won 50 games in a season, by far the longest drought in NBA history.^[7] It's also their last NBA Finals appearance.

The city of Seattle did not win another championship in one of thefour big North American sports until theSeattle Seahawks wonSuper Bowl XLVIII in 2014.

The SuperSonics did come close to another NBA Championship before their move toOklahoma City. They would return to the NBA Finals in1996, but lost to the record-setting 72-winChicago Bulls in six games, becoming the first victim of the Bulls’ second three-peat from 1996 to1998. After their move to Oklahoma City, the Thunder made it back to the Finals in2012 but lost to the Big Three-ledMiami Heat in five games. They would eventually win the championship again in2025 over theIndiana Pacers in seven games.

• 1979 NBA playoffs

• 1979 NBA Playoffs
• NBA.com Season Review: 1978-79

• NBA Finals
• 1978–79 NBA season
• Seattle SuperSonics games
• Washington Bullets games
• May 1979 sports events in the United States
• June 1979 sports events in the United States
• Basketball competitions in Seattle
• 1970s in Seattle
• 1979 in sports in Washington, D.C.
• 1979 in sports in Washington (state)

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023