The

1976–77 NBA season The 1976–77 NBA season was the 31st season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Portland Trail Blazers winning their first NBA Championship in franchise history, beating the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the 1 ...

was the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

' 29th season in the NBA and 20th season in the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. The team played at

Cobo Arena Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Hall, Cobo Center, and briefly TCF Center) is a convention center in Downtown Detroit, owned by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) and operated by ASM Global. Located at 1 Washi ...

in Detroit. The Pistons added

Marvin Barnes Marvin Jerome "Bad News" Barnes (July 27, 1952 – September 8, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. A forward (basketball), forward, he was an NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, All-American at Providence College, and played p ...

in the 1976 ABA Dispersal Draft, and Detroit finished with a 44–38 (.537) record, 2nd place in the Midwest Division. The team was led by shooting guard

Chris Ford Christopher Joseph Ford (January 11, 1949 – January 17, 2023) was an American professional basketball player and head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mad Bomber", Ford played most of his NBA career on the D ...

(12.3 ppg), free agent addition, forward M.L. Carr (13.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and center

Bob Lanier Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player. He played center (basketball), center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). L ...

(25.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg, NBA All-Star). Detroit advanced to the

1977 NBA Playoffs The 1977 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1976–77 NBA season, 1976–77 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champion 1976–77 Portland Trail ...

, losing their first round Western Conference series to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

The 1976–77 season was described as "absolutely insane, probably the craziest in Pistons history. They won a lot of games, but were completely dysfunctional." John Papanek of

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

(SI) would state, "if the Pistons were a TV mini-series, they would make

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

seem like Ding Dong School." Much of the dysfunction centered around the addition of "Bad News" Barnes, who was arrested during the season at

Detroit Metropolitan Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is the primary international airport serving Detroit and its Metro Detroit, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Romulus, Michigan, Romulus, a Detroit suburb ...

for carrying a gun while on probation, and the addition of Herb Brown as coach, who struggled to get along with the strong personalities on the team. The Pistons would eventually bench Barnes, who said "News didn’t come here to sit on no wood." In later years, star Detroit center

reflected on the dysfunctional Barnes, stating "In the ABA, Marvin Barnes was a great, great player that had issues. They took a chance on him, but Marvin was still into street life and he affected Eric Money. Money (a Detroit product, who played college ball at

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

) could shoot the in-between jumper and he might’ve been one of the best that ever played. A few years ago I ran into Marvin in Houston and he said, ‘Bob, I used to get get high all the time and Eric started to get high with me.’ When somebody tells you that and this is 20-some odd years later, you want put your fist right through their head. And I adored Marvin Barnes – I liked his personality and he's as charming a guy as you'd ever want to meet. But in terms of him trying to be part of the team that wins a championship ... man..." Lanier and Barnes each suffered a broken hand late in the season. Barnes did not appear in the playoffs for Detroit but Lanier was able to return. Coach Brown had also elected to start Eric Money over mercurial starter Kevin Porter down the stretch and into the post-season, and the Pistons fell to Golden State 2–1, despite winning the opening game of the series 95–90 in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

. In the deciding third game, Bob Lanier put forward a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

of 33 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 72% from the floor, only to be out-dueled by fellow Hall of Famer Rick Barry, who scored 35 points to pace the Warriors in the 109–101 victory. The game was marred by a 3rd quarter fight with Charles Dudley of Golden State tangling with Eric Money of the Pistons. The fight spilled into the stands as a Warriors fan punching Piston M.L. Carr and Lanier then decking the fan. Reflective of the different era in the game, personal fouls were called on Dudley and Money, and the game resumed. Barnes would report to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections in

Cranston, Rhode Island Cranston, formerly known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second-largest city in the state. The center of ...

in the off-season to serve a 152-day sentence. He had pleaded guilty to a two-year-old charge that he had attacked Providence teammate Larry Ketvirtis with a tire iron. The judge gave him three years of probation. The October 1976 gun at the Detroit airport was a probation violation, causing the requirement to complete that initial sentence.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Playoffs

, - style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;" , 1 , April 12 , @ Golden State
W 95–90
,

(28) ,

(17) , Kevin Porter (6) ,

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena Oakland Arena, often referred to as the Oakland Coliseum Arena, is an indoor arena in Oakland, California, and part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Authority. Opened in 1966, the arena was originally home to the California Seals of the ...

12,459 , 1–0 , - style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" , 2 , April 14 , Golden State
L 108–138
, Eric Money (31) ,

(18) , Eric Money (7) ,

11,220 , 1–1 , - style="text-align:center; background:#fcc;" , 3 , April 17 , @ Golden State
L 101–109
,

(33) ,

(15) ,

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

(8) ,

13,155 , 1–2 , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1976-77 Detroit Pistons Season Detroit Pistons seasons

1976 in Detroit 1977 in Detroit