The 1975 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals was the first contest pitting teams led by two African American coaches K.C. Jones, of the Washington Bullets (Now Washington Wizards) and Alvin Austin Attles Jr., of the Golden State (California) Warriors
During the 1969-1970 NBA season, Attles became a player-coach for Golden State, replacing George Lee. He retired from the NBA as a player following the 1970-1971 season at 35 but remained head coach with the team following his retirement.
K.C. Jones retired from the Boston Celtics as a player after the 1967 NBA Season at the age of 35. Jones begin his NBA coaching career as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles (California) Lakers in 1972. In his first year the Lakers won the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. Jones then coached the American Basketball Association (ABA) team the San Diego (California) Conquistadors for one season before resigning. He returned to the NBA in 1974 to be head coach of the Baltimore Bullets where they relocated to Washington D.C. to become the Washington Bullets.
During the 1974-1975 NBA Season, Attles and the Warriors had a 48-34 regular season record. They made the playoffs by defeating the Seattle (Washington) Supersonics (Now Oklahoma City Thunder) and Chicago (Illinois) Bulls. Jones and Bullets had a 60-22 regular season record. The Bullets defeated the Buffalo Braves (Now Los Angeles Clippers) and Celtics in the playoffs.
The Washington Bullets were led by star players including Phil Chenier, Elvin Hayes, Leonard Eugene “Truck” Robinson, and Wes Unseld. The Golden State Warriors were led by star players including Rick Barry, Bill Bridges, Jeff Mullins, Phil Smith, and Jamaal Wilkes. The Warriors home games were played at the Cow Palace in Daly near San Francisco while the Bullets played their games at Capitol Centre, Landover, Maryland. The games were played at both arenas, two games apiece. Although the Bullets were favored to win in the 1975 NBA Finals, they were defeated by the Warriors in four games in the series. Rick Barry was named the Finals MVP by the NBA.
Al Attles remained head coach of the Warriors until the 1983-1984 season. From 1983 to 1986, Attles was the Warriors general manager, but he returned as an assistant coach for the team, during the 1994-1995 NBA season. Attles died on August 20, 2024, at the age of 87 in Oakland, California. Jones returned to the Boston Celtics in 1978 and would lead the team to two NBA Championships in 1984 and 1986. He retired from the Celtics as head coach in 1988 and was inducted into to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989. K.C. Jones died on December 25, 2020, near Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 88.