Before that, the Suns lost a coin flip to the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the 1969 NBA draft, losing out on selecting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
With Adams fortifying the center position, and with new addition Paul Westphal and Dick Van Arsdale providing the scoring punch, the Suns reached the playoffs for the second time, finishing with 42 wins.
They kept the core of the team that won the 1974 NBA Finals, but made some tweaks, including trading Westphal to Phoenix for Charlie Scott.
In the first NBA game played in the month of June, referees Don Murphy and Manny Sokol whistled 21 fouls in the first 10 minutes.
""[citation needed] The game was close to the end, when Ricky Sobers hit a bank shot to put the Suns up by four with 90 seconds left.
The Celtics surged out to a 36–18 lead after one quarter and led 42-20 early in the second, with John Havlicek (starting for the first time all series) scoring 19 of his team's points.
The halftime lead was 61-45 Celtics, but the Suns began to claw back and held Havlicek scoreless until near the end of regulation.
In an amazing and frantic sequence, the following transpired: Phoenix suddenly led, 110–109, with just five seconds left, and the team looked poised to win their third straight game and grab a 3-to-2 edge in the series.
According to CBS guest analyst & Golden State Warriors forward Rick Barry, the ball went through the hoop with two seconds left and the clock should have been stopped.
Although this resulted in a technical foul being called on Westphal, the play was critical for Phoenix, because the rules at the time gave Phoenix the same advantage (save for the technical foul shot) that they would have had with timeouts remaining to use; namely, possession of the ball at half court.
During the timeout, fans were still on the Boston Garden floor, even disturbing the Suns' huddle by their bench as coach John MacLeod was drawing up a play for a possible tying basket.
The Suns' players repeatedly had to shove the fans out of the way, and Phoenix general manager Jerry Colangelo even threatened to not bring his team back to the Boston Garden for Game 7 if security couldn't maintain control.
When play resumed, Phoenix's Gar Heard took the inbounds pass from Perry and made a buzzer-beating shot (a turn-around jumper at the top of the key) for the Suns that tied the score yet again, 112–112.
Boston eventually took a six-point lead, 128–122, late in the third overtime, as Glenn McDonald, a little-used Celtic reserve player, chipped in half a dozen.
Westphal then scored the next four points for Phoenix (as part of a brilliant performance that featured several leaping, spinning, acrobatic bank shots) cutting the gap to 128–126, but he could not get the ball again; (although he very nearly did – almost stealing a pass near half court as the third overtime wound down).
Suns reserve Keith Erickson attempted to play at the start of the second quarter but reinjured his sprained ankle and never returned.
Havlicek hit two free throws, then Cowens stole got a steal and immediately scored while drawing a foul.
The 1975–76 Finals had three straight off days between Sunday afternoon opener and Thursday night second game due to CBS's concern with low ratings for professional basketball.
The 1975–76 network television season, as well as May sweeps, ended after Wednesday, May 26 and weekend afternoon games did not affect prime-time ratings.
[5] The move angered numerous clergy in the Phoenix area, who saw drastically reduced attendance at Sunday morning services.
Pat Riley, who did not play in the finals, also retired as a player after the season and went on to win six NBA championships as a head coach.
Westphal would coach the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals, when they fell to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in six games.