The 1977–78 San Antonio Spurs season was the second in the NBA, the 5th in San Antonio, and the 11th as a franchise. While George Gervin was lighting up the scoreboard with his first point title, the Spurs won the Central Division with a 52–30 record. In the playoffs the Spurs would be stunned in 6 games by the eventual champion Washington Bullets In the series, Gervin averaged 33.2 points per game.
Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 2 37 Jeff Wilkins C/PF Illinois State 3 59 Dan Henderson Arkansas State 4 81 Matt Hicks Northern Illinois 5 103 Scott Sims G Missouri 6 125 Bruce Buckley North Carolina 7 145 Richard Robinson New Mexico 8 164 Jerome Gladney Arizona
Roster
Regular season George Gervin and David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets would battle all season for the NBA scoring title. On the final day of the season, Thompson would take the lead by scoring 73 points in an afternoon game against the Detroit Pistons. That night, Gervin needed 58 points against the Jazz in New Orleans. Gervin got to a good start by scoring 20 points in the 1st Quarter. In the 2nd, Gervin set a single period record with 33 points. Early on in the 3rd, Gervin would score his 58 points on the way to 63 points, capturing the scoring title. While Gervin was lighting up the scoreboard, the Spurs won the Central Division with a 52–30 record.
Season standings
z – clinched division title y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot
Playoffs
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 16 | Washington | W 114–103 | George Gervin (35) | Larry Kenon (9) | Gervin, Kenon (5) | HemisFair Arena9,669 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 18 | Washington | L 117–121 | George Gervin (46) | Larry Kenon (8) | Larry Kenon (6) | HemisFair Arena9,871 | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | April 21 | @ Washington | L 105–118 | George Gervin (33) | Larry Kenon (9) | Larry Kenon (4) | Capital Centre17,417 | 1–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | April 23 | @ Washington | L 95–98 | George Gervin (35) | Billy Paultz (8) | Mike Gale (7) | Capital Centre13,459 | 1–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | April 25 | Washington | W 116–105 | George Gervin (27) | Larry Kenon (14) | Louie Dampier (6) | HemisFair Arena9,709 | 2–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 6 | April 28 | @ Washington | L 100–103 | Mark Olberding (24) | Green, Paultz (9) | Mike Gale (9) | Capital Centre19,035 | 2–4
Player statistics
Ragular season PlayerSG82 82 2,857 420 302 136 110 2,232 34.8 5.1 3.7 1.7 1.3 27.2PG82 2,037 122 285 87 13 748 24.8 1.5 3.5 1.1 .2 9.1SF82 1,481 257 194 69 4 666 18.1 3.1 2.4 .8 .0 8.1SF 81 2,869 773 268 115 24 1,672 35.4 9.5 3.3 1.4 .3 20.6C 80 2,479 675 213 42 194 1,266 31.0 8.4 2.7 .5 2.4 15.8PF 79 1,876 358 217 81 55 589 23.7 4.5 2.7 1.0 .7 7.5PF 79 1,773 373 131 45 26 646 22.4 4.7 1.7 .6 .3 8.2SG 70 2,091 223 376 159 25 637 29.9 3.2 5.4 2.3 .4 9.1†C 63 1,132 304 66 24 87 476 18.0 4.8 1.0 .4 1.4 7.6PG 41 498 32 108 21 4 182 12.1 .8 2.6 .5 .1 4.4PG 37 311 23 38 11 1 146 8.4 .6 1.0 .3 .0 3.9†C 16 251 46 17 3 10 89 15.7 2.9 1.1 .2 .6 5.6PG 12 95 13 20 3 0 30 7.9 1.1 1.7 .3 .0 2.5PG 4 30 5 5 1 0 6 7.5 1.3 1.3 .3 .0 1.5
Playoffs PlayerSG6 227 34 19 6 16 199 37.8 5.7 3.2 1.0 2.7 33.2SG6 201 25 31 7 4 52 33.5 4.2 5.2 1.2 .7 8.7SF6 200 55 22 5 2 106 33.3 9.2 3.7 .8 .3 17.7C6 191 41 14 5 5 69 31.8 6.8 2.3 .8 .8 11.5C6 174 44 11 5 16 65 29.0 7.3 1.8 .8 2.7 10.8PF6 152 30 14 6 6 63 25.3 5.0 2.3 1.0 1.0 10.5PG6 129 7 15 4 2 35 21.5 1.2 2.5 .7 .3 5.8PF6 96 25 4 5 5 29 16.0 4.2 .7 .8 .8 4.8SF 5 51 11 7 2 0 22 10.2 2.2 1.4 .4 .0 4.4PG 3 19 0 1 1 0 7 6.3 .0 .3 .3 .0 2.3
Awards and honors George Gervin, All-NBA First Team
References
Spurs on Basketball Reference