The 1975–76 Buffalo Braves season was the sixth season for the expansion Buffalo Braves franchise in the National Basketball Association and its Atlantic Division. It was the team's fourth season under head coach Jack Ramsay.^[1] The team's official home arena was Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

Bob McAdoo led the league in scoring for the third consecutive year with 31.1 points per game.^[2] It was the third year in a row that the Braves made the playoffs. The Braves had a record of 46–36. In the playoffs the Braves wound up against the Philadelphia 76ers. The series went the full three games but the Braves found themselves on the road for Game 3. The Braves emerged victorious in overtime with a hard-fought 124–123 victory.^[2] It was the first playoff series win for the franchise. In the second round of the playoffs, the Braves and Boston Celtics would once again battle. After four games, the series was even at two wins each.^[2] Once again the Celtics would take the series in six games.

The season was marked in controversy. Ernie DiGregorio was benched and McAdoo was suspended. Following the season the Braves allowed coach Jack Ramsay to depart for the head coaching job with the Portland Trail Blazers.^[2] The team did not resign its auditorium lease and went through the season without a contract. Subsequently, the team was sold, the city sued and the sale was not consummated.

Offseason

NBA draft

The Braves had no selections during the first two rounds of the 1975 NBA draft and no players drafted by the team that year played for the 1975–76 Buffalo.^[3] 1974 NBA draft pick Tom McMillen played for a year in Europe before joining the 1975–76 Buffalo Braves.^[4] McMillen played in the Italian League for a team in Bologna, Italy and completed the first year of his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University. However, he reached an agreement with Oxford to complete his second year during the summer in order to begin his National Basketball Association career.^[5] McMillen only played basketball in Italy on the weekends.^[6]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
3	52	George Bucci	Guard	United States	Manhattan College
4	70	Bob Fleischer	Forward	United States	Duke
5	88	Sam Berry	Forward	United States	Armstrong State
6	106	George Jackson	Guard	United States	UNC Charlotte
7	124	Mike Franklin	Forward	United States	Cincinnati
8	142	Allan Jones	Forward	United States	Pepperdine
9	158	George Rautins	Guard	United States	Niagara
10	172	Art Allen	Guard	United States	Pepperdine

Exhibition games

On October 4, 1975, the Braves opened their preseason exhibition schedule against the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association. Bob McAdoo had 29 points in the contest in Indianapolis but the Pacers won, 106–105. On October 11, 15,000 fans attended the Braves' home game against the ABA's New York Nets. The Braves held New York's star Julius Erving to 16 points but the Nets prevailed 109–83. On October 14 the Braves traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to face the ABA's Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels won, 120–116. Two nights later on October 16, 1975, the Braves hit the road to face the ABA's San Antonio Spurs. Bob McAdoo had 22 points and 16 rebounds but the Spurs won 101–90 behind 22 points each for James Silas and George Gervin. The very next night the Braves again faced the New York Nets, this time at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Bob McAdoo scored 31 points but the Nets won 117–97. The Braves closed out their preseason exhibition schedule with a record of 0–5 against ABA teams.^[7]

Roster

Roster Notes

• Forward Jack Marin would get traded away to the Chicago Bulls in November.
• Forward Gar Heard would get traded away to the Phoenix Suns in February.
• Forwards Steve Kuberski and Jim Washington played in only 10 games and 1 game respectively before being waived in November.

Regular season

The Braves went the entire season without a winning streak or losing streak exceeding six games.^[8] The Braves attendance decreased by nearly 50,000 to 418,696 in their 41 home games, and the team fell to 11th of 18 teams.^[8][9]

Shumate, who played 43 games for Phoenix and 32 for Buffalo led the NBA in field goal percentage (56.1) and earned first team All-rookie honors.^[10] DiGregorio, who played 67 games posted a 91.5% (86/94) free throw percentage, which would have been second to Rick Barry's 92.3 if he had posted a qualifying number of attempts.^[11] Marin, who played 12 games for the Braves before being traded, finished 9th in the NBA in free throw percentage (85.6%).^[12] McMillian ranked 3rd in field goal percentage (53.6%) and 8th in free throw percentage (85.8).^[13] Randy Smith, who played all 82 games for the fourth consecutive season, represented Buffalo in the 1976 NBA All-Star Game and earned 2nd team All-NBA honors. Smith ranked third in steals per game (2.5), fourth in assists per game (6.5), seventh in points per game (21.8) and ninth in minutes per game (38.6).^[14] Smith's speed was a difference maker on the Braves' fast breaks.^[15] McAdoo appeared in the third of five consecutive NBA All-Star games and placed second in the MVP voting despite not making the All-NBA team that included centers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dave Cowens.^[16][17] McAdoo led the winning east team in scoring with 22 points in the All-Star game, but Dave Bing was selected as MVP.^[18] Over the course of the season he made both the most field goals and most free throws in the NBA. He led the league in minutes played (42.7) and points per game (31.1) while ranking seventh in rebound average (12.4) and sixth in blocks per game (2.1).^[16]

October–December

As the season began, the Braves refused to sign the lease terms for Memorial Auditorium because Braves owner Paul Snyder felt it was unfair for the Braves to be held to different terms than their co-tenant, the Buffalo Sabres. Although the Buffalo Common Council had approved a lease in July, the Braves entered the season without an agreement.^[19]

During the November 14 game at Milwaukee a bench-clearing brawl erupted as a result of an incident between Bucks Gary Brokaw and Bob Dandridge and Brave Dick Gibbs.^[20] The following week McAdoo broke the Cleveland Coliseum single-game scoring record by posting 50 points in a 23-point deficit come-from-behind overtime victory. He surpassed his own 49 point performance the prior year at the Coliseum; both games were against his friend Jim Chones.^[21][22] On December 2, 1974, NBA Rookie of the Year DiGregorio was benched in favor of Charles for the sake of team defense.^[23][24] In Charles' first start, he led the team in scoring with a career-high 24 on the way to the franchise record 37-point December 5 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[25] In late December, McAdoo was suspended by the team for failing to make a doctor's appointment as the Braves claimed his self-diagnosed back injury was dubious.^[26]

January–February

The Braves began the new year by playing in three consecutive one-point contests, first splitting with the New York Knicks on January 2 and January 3, and then defeating the Los Angeles Lakers on January 6. All games were won by the home team.^[8][27] The Braves established an all-sport all-time attendance record for Memorial Auditorium of 19,226 on January 31 when they hosted the Boston Celtics. That night, John Havlicek became the NBAs fourth leading scorer, surpassing Elgin Baylor.^[28] The day before the game the Braves had reached an agreement on sharing playing dates with the Sabres and decided not to attempt to leave town.^[29] On February 1 during the All-star break, the Braves dealt Heard for Shumate.^[30] At the time the Braves had a 30–20 record and they would go 16–16 for the rest of the season.^[8] During the February 3, 1976 NBA All-Star Game, Smith scored 8 points, while McAdoo had a game-high 22. McAdoo contributed to a key fourth quarter spurt that propelled the East to victory.^[18][31][32]

March–April

As the season wound down, the Braves were battling with the Philadelphia 76ers for home court advantage in the opening round series. The Braves defeated the Celtics twice in the final two weeks to even their season series at three games a piece while winning five of their last seven games.^[8][33][34] The Braves were scheduled to host the New York Knicks on April 6, but when the Buffalo Sabres qualified for the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs, the National Hockey League scheduled the Sabres to be the home team on the same date. When the Braves set a $25,000 price tag on the date, the Sabres swapped home game dates with the St. Louis Blues and lost on St. Louis in a best of three series on that date.^[35]

Season standings

Record vs. opponents