1981–82 Washington Bullets season

1981–82 Washington Bullets season
1981–82 Washington Bullets season
Head coach	Gene Shue
General manager	Bob Ferry
Owner(s)	Abe Pollin
Arena	Capital Centre
Results
Record	43–39 (.524)
Place	Division: 4th (Atlantic); Conference: 5th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Conference semifinals; (lost to Celtics 1–4)
	Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
Television	WDCA
Radio	WTOP
< 1980–81	1982–83 >

The 1981–82 NBA season was the Bullets’ 21st season in the NBA and their ninth in the city of Washington, D.C.^[1] This for first since 1967–68 season Wes Unseld was not on the opening day roster. The Bullets finished 43–39 and won their first playoff round against the New Jersey Nets. They lost the semifinals to a powerful Boston Celtic outfit and their Nets win would prove their last playoff series win until 2004–05 against the Chicago Bulls.

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	11	Frank Johnson	PG	United States	Wake Forest
2	35	Charles Davis	SF	United States	Vanderbilt
2	41	Claude Gregory	PF	United States	Wisconsin
2	44	Steve Lingenfelter	PF	United States	South Dakota State
3	48	Mike Ferrara		United States	Colgate
4	79	Ron Davis		United States	Arizona
5	103	Garry Witts		United States	Holy Cross
6	125	Robert Williams		United States	Grambling State
7	149	Randy Martel		United States	Houston Baptist
8	170	Mike Howard		United States	Wofford
9	193	Eddie Brown		United States	Valdosta State
10	212	Ralton Way		United States	Houston Baptist

Roster

1981–82 Washington Bullets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Player	Height	Weight	From
F	42	Greg Ballard	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Oregon
C	9	Jim Chones	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Marquette
G/F	22	Don Collins	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Washington State
SF	23	Charles Davis	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Vanderbilt
F	35	Kevin Grevey	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Kentucky
PF	24	Spencer Haywood	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Detroit Mercy
PG	15	Frank Johnson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Wake Forest
G	5	John Lucas	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Maryland
PF	44	Rick Mahorn	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Hampton
PG	1	Kevin Porter	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Saint Francis (PA)
C	43	Jeff Ruland	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Iona
G	12	Carlos Terry	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Winston-Salem State
F	20	Garry Witts	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Holy Cross

Head coach

Gene Shue

Assistant(s)

Bernie Bickerstaff

Legend

(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Atlantic Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Boston Celtics	63	19	.768	–	35–6	28–13	20–4
x-Philadelphia 76ers	58	24	.707	5.0	32–9	26–15	16–8
x-New Jersey Nets	44	38	.537	19.0	25–16	19–22	12–12
x-Washington Bullets	43	39	.524	20.0	22–19	21–20	7–17
New York Knicks	33	49	.402	30.0	19–22	14–27	5–19

#	Eastern Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Boston Celtics	63	19	.768	–
2	y-Milwaukee Bucks	55	27	.671	8
3	x-Philadelphia 76ers	58	24	.707	5
4	x-New Jersey Nets	44	38	.537	19
5	x-Washington Bullets	43	39	.524	20
6	x-Atlanta Hawks	42	40	.512	21

7	Detroit Pistons	39	43	.476	24
8	Indiana Pacers	35	47	.427	28
9	Chicago Bulls	34	48	.415	29
10	New York Knicks	33	49	.402	30
11	Cleveland Cavaliers	15	67	.183	48

Notes

z, y – division champions
x – clinched playoff spot

Game log

Regular season

1981–82 game log
Total: 43–39 (home: 22–19; road: 21–20)

October: 0–1 (home: 0–0; road: 0–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	October 30	@ Boston	L 100–124				Boston Garden	0–1

November: 4–9 (home: 3–5; road: 1–4)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
2	November 3	Philadelphia	L 99–112	Capital Centre	0–2
3	November 5	@ Milwaukee	L 90–98	MECCA Arena	0–3
4	November 6	Detroit	W 86–82	Capital Centre	1–3
5	November 10	Boston	L 84–90	Capital Centre	1–4
6	November 12	@ Atlanta	W 95–87	The Omni	2–4
7	November 14	Chicago	W 104–99	Capital Centre	3–4
8	November 17	Milwaukee	L 95–99	Capital Centre	3–5
9	November 19	@ Detroit	L 97–122	Pontiac Silverdome	3–6
10	November 20	Houston	L 94–95	Capital Centre	3–7
11	November 21	@ Chicago	L 105–117	Chicago Stadium	3–8
12	November 24	Golden State	W 107–88	Capital Centre	4–8
13	November 27	@ Boston	L 100–113	Boston Garden	4–9
14	November 28	Indiana	L 90–92	Capital Centre	4–10

December: 8–7 (home: 3–3; road: 5–4)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
15	December 1	San Antonio	L 99–110	Capital Centre	4–11
16	December 3	@ New York	W 114–88	Madison Square Garden	5–11
17	December 5	Cleveland	W 94–87	Capital Centre	6–11
18	December 8	@ Los Angeles	L 98–102	The Forum	6–12
19	December 11	@ San Diego	W 106–102	San Diego Sports Arena	7–12
20	December 12	@ Phoenix	W 105–98	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum	8–12
21	December 15	Dallas	L 102–107	Capital Centre	8–13
22	December 16	@ Cleveland	W 106–102	Richfield Coliseum	9–13
23	December 18	Boston	L 98–99	Capital Centre	9–14
24	December 22	@ Chicago	L 90–92	Chicago Stadium	9–15
25	December 25	Indiana	W 115–98	Capital Centre	10–15
26	December 26	@ New Jersey	W 105–90	Brendan Byrne Arena	11–15
27	December 29	Detroit	W 129–125	Capital Centre	12–15
28	December 30	@ Milwaukee	L 103–107	MECCA Arena	12–16

January: 10–4 (home: 5–3; road: 5–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
29	January 2	@ Indiana	W 107–103	Market Square Arena	13–16
30	January 5	New Jersey	L 108–114	Capital Centre	13–17
31	January 6	@ Philadelphia	L 112–116	The Spectrum	13–18
32	January 7	@ Cleveland	W 109–100	Richfield Coliseum	14–18
33	January 10	@ New York	W 129–126 (OT)	Madison Square Garden	15–18
34	January 12	Philadelphia	L 92–95	Capital Centre	15–19
35	January 14	@ Detroit	W 121–114	Pontiac Silverdome	16–19
36	January 15	Chicago	W 93–90	Capital Centre	17–19
37	January 17	Atlanta	W 96–78	Capital Centre	18–19
38	January 20	Seattle	W 106–95	Capital Centre	19–19
39	January 22	Portland	W 110–97	Capital Centre	20–19
41	January 23	@ Kansas City	W 109–106 (OT)	Kemper Arena	21–19
41	January 26	Chicago	W 94–84	Capital Centre	22–19
42	January 28	New York	L 98–102	Capital Centre	22–20
All-Star Break

February: 5–8 (home: 2–4; road: 3–4)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
43	February 2	Cleveland	L 99–100	Capital Centre	22–21
44	February 3	@ Philadelphia	L 96–122	The Spectrum	22–22
45	February 5	Los Angeles	L 87–90	Capital Centre	22–23
46	February 7	Denver	L 115–124	Capital Centre	22–24
47	February 9	@ San Antonio	W 112–110	HemisFair Arena	23–24
48	February 10	@ Dallas	W 119–102	Reunion Arena	24–24
49	February 13	@ Houston	L 104–111	The Summit	24–25
50	February 16	@ Portland	W 100–97	Memorial Coliseum	25–25
51	February 18	@ Seattle	L 87–105	Kingdome	25–26
52	February 20	@ Golden State	L 102–110	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena	25–27
53	February 23	Utah	L 106–113	Capital Centre	25–28
54	February 26	Kansas City	W 100–98	Capital Centre	26–28
55	February 28	New York	W 113–109 (OT)	Capital Centre	27–28

March: 10–7 (home: 6–3; road: 4–4)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
56	March 2	New Jersey	L 124–130 (2OT)	Capital Centre	27–29
57	March 5	@ Denver	L 126–127	McNichols Sports Arena	27–30
58	March 6	@ Utah	W 127–113	Salt Palace Acord Arena	28–30
59	March 9	Phoenix	L 95–103	Capital Centre	28–31
60	March 12	Indiana	W 110–105	Capital Centre	29–31
61	March 13	@ New York	W 109–99	Madison Square Garden	30–31
62	March 14	Atlanta	W 92–85	Capital Centre	31–31
63	March 16	Boston	L 97–98 (OT)	Capital Centre	31–32
64	March 17	@ Philadelphia	L 93–102	The Spectrum	31–33
65	March 19	San Diego	W 108–98	Capital Centre	32–33
66	March 21	New York	W 110–109	Capital Centre	33–33
67	March 23	@ Atlanta	L 87–107	The Omni	33–34
68	March 24	@ Indiana	W 114–106	Market Square Arena	34–34
69	March 26	New Jersey	W 104–88	Capital Centre	35–34
70	March 28	@ Cleveland	W 104–101	Richfield Coliseum	36–34
71	March 30	Detroit	W 127–98	Capital Centre	37–34
72	March 31	@ Boston	L 109–119	Boston Garden	37–35

April: 6–4 (home: 3–1; road: 3–3)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
73	April 2	@ New Jersey	L 96–98	Brendan Byrne Arena	37–36
74	April 3	@ Atlanta	L 101–106	The Omni	37–37
75	April 6	Cleveland	W 94–85	Capital Centre	38–37
76	April 7	@ Indiana	W 97–85	Market Square Arena	39–37
77	April 9	@ Chicago	W 114–98	Chicago Stadium	40–37
78	April 10	Milwaukee	W 115–114	Capital Centre	41–37
79	April 13	@ Milwaukee	W 109–99	MECCA Arena	42–37
80	April 14	@ New Jersey	L 94–98	Brendan Byrne Arena	42–38
81	April 16	Philadelphia	L 96–100	Capital Centre	42–39
82	April 18	Atlanta	W 99–96	Capital Centre	43–39

1981–82 schedule

Playoffs

1982 playoff game log

Eastern Conference First Round: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 20	@ New Jersey	W 96–83	Jeff Ruland (18)	Jeff Ruland (20)	Frank Johnson (11)	Brendan Byrne Arena 14,015	1–0
2	April 23	New Jersey	W 103–92	Kevin Grevey (23)	Rick Mahorn (11)	Frank Johnson (9)	Capital Centre 19,035	2–0

Eastern Conference Semifinals: 1–4 (home: 0–2; road: 1–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 25	@ Boston	L 91–109	Spencer Haywood (17)	Greg Ballard (9)	Frank Johnson (6)	Boston Garden 15,320	0–1
2	April 28	@ Boston	W 103–102	Johnson, Haywood (26)	Jeff Ruland (10)	Frank Johnson (8)	Boston Garden 15,320	1–1
3	May 1	Boston	L 83–92	Spencer Haywood (19)	Rick Mahorn (14)	Frank Johnson (8)	Capital Centre 15,035	1–2
4	May 2	Boston	L 99–103 (OT)	Spencer Haywood (28)	Rick Mahorn (10)	Frank Johnson (7)	Capital Centre 16,295	1–3
5	May 5	@ Boston	L 126–131 (2OT)	Jeff Ruland (33)	Jeff Ruland (13)	Frank Johnson (10)	Boston Garden 15,320	1–4

1982 schedule

Awards and records

Gene Shue, NBA Coach of the Year Award
Bob Ferry, NBA Executive of the Year Award
Jeff Ruland, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team

References

^ 1981-82 Washington Bullets

1981–82 Washington Bullets season

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and records

References

See also