1972–73 Baltimore Bullets season
Division champions
Head coachGene Shue
General managerJerry Sachs
Owner(s)Abe Pollin
ArenaBaltimore Civic Center
Results
Record52–30 (.634)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Central)
Conference: 2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finishConference Semi-finals
(lost to Knicks 1–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
TelevisionWMAR-TV
RadioWFBR

In the 1972–73 NBA season, their 12th overall season and tenth and final season in Baltimore, Maryland, the Bullets were led by seventh-year head coach Gene Shue and won a third consecutive Central Division title.

Prior to the season in June, forward Elvin Hayes was acquired in a trade from the Houston Rockets, for forward Jack Marin and draft picks.[1] In the 1972 draft in April, Baltimore selected point guard Kevin Porter in the third round. After a slow start, the Bullets had a strong 10–4 record in December.[2] In the playoffs, they faced their playoff rivals the New York Knicks, and fell in five games in the conference semi-finals;[3] the Knicks went on to win the NBA title.

Following the season, the Bullets made a short move to the new Capital Centre in Landover, a suburb east of Washington, D.C., and became the Capital Bullets.[2][4] The Bullets would later play 35 regular season games in Baltimore from the 1988–89 through 1996–97 seasons.[5][6]

Draft picks

Roster

Baltimore Bullets roster
Players Coaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOBFrom
G 45 Chenier, Phil 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) California
G 21 Clark, Archie 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Minnesota
C 11 Hayes, Elvin 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Houston
F 13 Love, Stan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Oregon
F 24 Marin, Jack 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Duke
PG 10 Porter, Kevin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Saint Francis (PA)
G 33 Rinaldi, Rich 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Saint Peter's
SG 6 Riordan, Mike 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Providence
SF 9 Stallworth, Dave 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Wichita State
PF 12 Tresvant, John 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Seattle
F 41 Unseld, Wes 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Louisville
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Central Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Baltimore Bullets 5230.634–24–921–177–417–5
x-Atlanta Hawks 4636.561628–1317–231–010–12
Houston Rockets 3349.4021914–1410–289–79–13
Cleveland Cavaliers 3250.3902020–2110–272–28–14
#
Eastern Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Boston Celtics6814.829
2 x-New York Knicks5725.695
3 y-Baltimore Bullets5230.634
4 x-Atlanta Hawks4636.561
5 Houston Rockets3349.402
6 Cleveland Cavaliers3250.390
7 Buffalo Braves2161.256
8 Philadelphia 76ers973.110

Record vs. opponents

1972–73 NBA records
Team ATL BAL BOS BUF CHI CLE DET GSW HOU KCO LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO POR SEA
Atlanta –3–41–55–12–23–42–21–34–42–23–11–33–36–03–14–03–1
Baltimore 4–3–1–55–10–48–02–23–15–23–11–32–23–35–12–24–04–0
Boston 5–15–1–7–03–15–13–13–15–13–14–02–24–47–04–04–04–0
Buffalo 1–51–50–7–2–21–51–30–41–51–30–40–41–67–11–32–22–2
Chicago 2–24–01–32–2–3–13–43–34–05–21–52–43–14–04–25–15–1
Cleveland 4–30–81–55–11–3–1–31–34–32–21–31–30–66–01–31–33–1
Detroit 2–22–21–33–14–33–1–2–41–33–31–52–51–33–14–26–02–4
Golden State 3–11–31–34–03–33–14–2–3–14–23–41–52–24–02–45–14–3
Houston 4–42–51–55–10–43–43–11–3–0–41–31–31–55–12–22–22–2
Kansas City-Omaha 2–21–31–33–12–52–23–32–44–0–1–51–60–43–13–34–24–2
Los Angeles 1–33–10–44–05–13–15–14–33–15–1–3–32–24–06–16–06–0
Milwaukee 3–12–22–24–04–23–15–25–13–16–13–3–2–23–15–15–15–1
New York 3–33–34–46–11–36–03–12–25–14–02–22–2–6–13–13–14–0
Philadelphia 0–61–50–71–70–40–61–30–41–51–30–41–31–6–0–41–31–3
Phoenix 1–32–20–43–12–43–12–44–22–23–31–61–51–34–0–5–24–2
Portland 0–40–40–42–21–53–10–61–52–22–40–61–51–33–12–5–3–4
Seattle 1–30–40–42–21–51–34–23–42–22–40–61–50–43–12–44–3—

Game log

1972–73 game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1October 10@ Cleveland102–90Rich Rinaldi (26)1–0
2October 13Atlanta98–115Phil Chenier (24)2–0
3October 15@ Phoenix98–107Chenier, Unseld (22)2–1
4October 16@ Golden State96–97Phil Chenier (22)2–2
5October 19@ Kansas City–Omaha94–83Phil Chenier (24)3–2
6October 21Boston104–101Phil Chenier (24)3–3
7October 25@ Detroit115–105Mike Riordan (24)4–3
8October 27New York92–88Rich Rinaldi (21)4–4
9October 28@ New York90–94Mike Riordan (27)4–5
10November 3@ Boston96–109Mike Davis (26)4–6
11November 4N Cleveland98–108Mike Riordan (25)5–6
12November 7@ Atlanta107–109 (OT)Mike Riordan (28)5–7
13November 8Buffalo94–126Elvin Hayes (25)6–7
14November 10@ Milwaukee82–120Elvin Hayes (25)6–8
15November 11Chicago111–106Elvin Hayes (30)6–9
16November 14Houston103–104Elvin Hayes (22)7–9
17November 17Phoenix106–117Phil Chenier (26)8–9
18November 18@ Chicago79–95Dave Stallworth (18)8–10
19November 21@ Buffalo124–88Phil Chenier (27)9–10
20November 22Seattle90–112Elvin Hayes (23)10–10
21November 25Milwaukee101–91Elvin Hayes (31)10–11
22November 28N Houston90–108Mike Riordan (27)11–11
23November 29N Houston102–94Elvin Hayes (30)11–12
24December 1Houston96–103Phil Chenier (27)12–12
25December 5@ Cleveland103–100Elvin Hayes (27)13–12
26December 6Portland102–115Phil Chenier (53)14–12
27December 8@ Atlanta115–134Mike Riordan (27)14–13
28December 9Kansas City–Omaha112–120Mike Riordan (30)15–13
29December 12Philadelphia102–123Mike Riordan (31)16–13
30December 15Houston91–94Elvin Hayes (20)17–13
31December 16N Golden State99–105Elvin Hayes (33)18–13
32December 20Los Angeles96–90Chenier, Hayes (21)18–14
33December 23Detroit97–104Flynn Robinson (25)19–14
34December 26@ Buffalo121–104Mike Riordan (23)20–14
35December 28@ Atlanta112–111Mike Riordan (26)21–14
36December 29Buffalo118–109Elvin Hayes (35)21–15
37December 30@ New York98–100Elvin Hayes (23)21–16
38January 1@ Milwaukee88–87Mike Riordan (23)22–16
39January 3Cleveland80–89Elvin Hayes (26)23–16
40January 7N Boston116–98Elvin Hayes (24)23–17
41January 9@ Portland105–93Elvin Hayes (23)24–17
42January 10@ Seattle98–86Mike Riordan (20)25–17
43January 14@ Phoenix95–94Chenier, Riordan (22)26–17
44January 16@ Los Angeles112–104Elvin Hayes (32)27–17
45January 19N Philadelphia94–110Mike Riordan (23)28–17
46January 20N Seattle106–126Phil Chenier (26)29–17
47January 21Philadelphia97–108Elvin Hayes (33)30–17
48January 26@ Chicago100–110Elvin Hayes (34)30–18
49January 27Buffalo87–115Phil Chenier (23)31–18
50January 28@ Cleveland102–93Elvin Hayes (25)32–18
51January 30Golden State86–104Clark, Riordan (24)33–18
52February 2New York77–89Wes Unseld (22)34–18
53February 4N Los Angeles125–115Clark, Unseld (24)34–19
54February 6@ Atlanta106–112Phil Chenier (30)34–20
55February 7Atlanta108–137Elvin Hayes (28)35–20
56February 9@ Buffalo101–95Chenier, Hayes (24)36–20
57February 11@ Portland102–97Elvin Hayes (34)37–20
58February 14@ Seattle107–106Elvin Hayes (27)38–20
59February 15@ Golden State96–94Phil Chenier (26)39–20
60February 16@ Los Angeles103–121Phil Chenier (20)39–21
61February 18N Milwaukee93–96Archie Clark (25)40–21
62February 21Phoenix107–98Elvin Hayes (33)40–22
63February 23@ Detroit105–107Phil Chenier (27)40–23
64February 24Portland110–128Archie Clark (31)41–23
65February 27Cleveland95–99Chenier, Hayes (26)42–23
66February 28@ Philadelphia96–102Phil Chenier (36)42–24
67March 3@ New York97–75Elvin Hayes (23)43–24
68March 4N New York97–106Archie Clark (24)44–24
69March 8@ Kansas City–Omaha93–105Mike Riordan (27)44–25
70March 9@ Houston109–104Archie Clark (26)45–25
71March 10N Chicago105–99Hayes, Riordan (19)45–26
72March 13Kansas City–Omaha99–103Phil Chenier (24)46–26
73March 14@ Boston107–111Mike Riordan (34)46–27
74March 16Boston97–103Elvin Hayes (29)47–27
75March 17@ Philadelphia120–115Elvin Hayes (43)48–27
76March 18Philadelphia118–129Archie Clark (27)49–27
77March 21Houston118–110Archie Clark (24)49–28
78March 23@ Cleveland106–104Archie Clark (33)50–28
79March 24Cleveland116–120 (OT)Stan Love (28)51–28
80March 25Atlanta105–112Mike Riordan (23)52–28
81March 27Detroit112–98Mike Riordan (18)52–29
82March 28@ Boston101–120Phil Chenier (20)52–30

Playoffs

1973 playoff game log
Conference Semi-finals: 1–4 (home: 1–1; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 March 30 @ New York L 83–95 Archie Clark (22) Wes Unseld (16) Archie Clark (6) Madison Square Garden
19,694		 0–1
2 April 1 @ New York L 103–123 Phil Chenier (27) Wes Unseld (14) Kevin Porter (7) Madison Square Garden
19,694		 0–2
3 April 4 New York L 96–103 Elvin Hayes (36) Elvin Hayes (14) Riordan, Clark (4) Baltimore Civic Center
12,289		 0–3
4 April 6 New York W 97–89 Elvin Hayes (34) Hayes, Unseld (13) Archie Clark (10) Baltimore Civic Center
12,289		 1–3
5 April 8 @ New York L 99–109 Archie Clark (30) Wes Unseld (21) Chenier, Unseld (4) Madison Square Garden
19,694		 1–4
1973 schedule

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ "Bullets gets 'Big E' for Marin, plus". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. June 24, 1972. p. 1, part 2.
  2. 1 2 Washington Wizards (1963–Present)
  3. ↑ Roethenberg, Fred (April 9, 1973). "Knicks eliminate Baltimore Bullets". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. p. 6.
  4. ↑ "Baltimore five set to become Capital Bullets". Bangor Daily News. (Maine). Associated Press. February 17, 1973. p. 21.
  5. ↑ The last time the Washington Bullets played in Baltimore United Press International
  6. ↑ "Bullets leave Baltimore with win Mavericks fall, 94-87" The Baltimore Sun
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