1974–75 ABA season

August 2023 1974–75 ABA season American Basketball Association Basketball October 18, 1974 – May 22, 1975 84 10 Regular season Denver Nuggets Julius Erving (New York) and George McGinnis, (Indiana) ABA MVP George McGinnis (Indiana) Playoffs 1975 ABA playoffs Eastern Kentucky Colonels Spirits of St. Louis Western Indiana Pacers Denver Nuggets Finals 1975 ABA Playoffs Kentucky Colonels Indiana Pacers List of ABA seasons ABA 1973–74 ABA season 1973–74 1975–76 ABA season 1975–76 The 1974–75 ABA season was the eighth season of the American Basketball Association. The Kentucky Colonels won the 1975 ABA Championship after winning the Eastern Division; the Denver Nuggets won the Western Division. Julius Erving and George McGinnis shared the league's MVP award. +Coaching changesOffseason Team 1973–74 coach 1974–75 coach Denver Nuggets Alex Hannum Larry Brown Kentucky Colonels Babe McCarthy Hubie Brown Memphis Sounds Butch van Breda Kolff Joe Mullaney Spirits of St. Louis Larry Brown Bob MacKinnon San Diego Conquistadors Wilt Chamberlain Alex Groza Utah Stars Joe Mullaney Bucky BuckwalterIn-season Team Outgoing coach Incoming coach San Antonio Spurs Tom Nissalke Bob Bass San Diego Conquistadors Alex Groza Beryl Shipley Utah Stars Bucky Buckwalter Tom Nissalke Preseason Prior to the start of the season the Eastern Division changed as the Memphis Tams gave way to the Memphis Sounds and the Carolina Cougars were bought by Ozzie and Daniel Silna and relocated out of the state of North Carolina to stay specifically in St. Louis, Missouri to become the Spirits of St. Louis. The Western Division remained unchanged save for the Denver Rockets renaming themselves the Denver Nuggets in advanced preparations of sorts for Denver wanting to avoid any troubles with their team name once a potentian ABA-NBA merger occurred due to the NBA already having the Houston Rockets (formerly known as the San Diego Rockets) as a team name at around the same time. The ABA and NBA continued playing preseason exhibition games between their teams. The ABA won 16 of the 23 games, to 7 wins for the NBA.RememberTheABA.com All-Time ABA vs. NBA Exhibition Game Results page http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAStatistics/ABANBAExhibitions.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090227043824/http://remembertheaba.com/ABAStatistics/ABANBAExhibitions.html 2009-02-27 dead 2009-05-17 Among those games was the Pacers' first game in Market Square Arena in which they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 118–115 before a standing room only crowd of 17,287; Bob Dandridge had 46 points and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 26 for the Bucks. Regular season On February 14, 1975, Julius Erving of the New York Nets scored a team-record 63 points against the San Diego Conquistadors in a quadruple-overtime game, which was both the longest game in league history at three hours and the highest-scoring game that resulted in San Diego prevailing 176–166.Archived copy https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=2ded5ecc-1406-4dca-8e28-72983ca05831#:~:text=The%20combined%20342%20points%20were,Diego%27s%20most%20incredible%20sporting%20events. https://web.archive.org/web/20220805002126/https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=2ded5ecc-1406-4dca-8e28-72983ca05831 2022-08-05 The 176–166 final score that the Conquistadors and Nets had would have been considered the newest record for the list of highest-scoring NBA games had this game occurred in the NBA at the time, with it remaining the record for the highest-scoring game in professional basketball history until December 13, 1983 when the Detroit Pistons (the team that won the lowest-scoring game in the NBA's history back when they were the Fort Wayne Pistons) defeated the Denver Nuggets (another team that has its roots in the ABA) 186–184 in triple-overtime out in the NBA. The 166 points the Nets scored that night would still be the franchise's highest mark for points scored in one game as of 2025, with its NBA record occurring on December 7, 2006 when the since-rebranded New Jersey Nets (now known as the Brooklyn Nets) would lose to the Phoenix Suns 161–157 in double-overtime.Phoenix Suns at New Jersey Nets Box Score, December 7, 2006 - Basketball-Reference.com https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200612070NJN.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080122023403/http://www.basketball-reference.com:80/boxscores/200612070NJN.html 2026-09-24 2008-01-22 The 8th ABA All-Star Game was played on January 28, 1975, in San Antonio, Texas. 10,449 attended. The East was coached by Kevin Loughery of the New York Nets and the West was coached by Larry Brown of the Denver Nuggets. The East won 151–124; Freddie Lewis of the Spirits of St. Louis was the game's MVP after scoring 26 points.RememberTheABA.com ABA All Star Games page https://web.archive.org/web/20081221221458/http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAAllStarGames/AllStar.html December 21, 2008 The Denver Nuggets posted the ABA's best record of the season, winning the Western Division with a record of 65–19 (.774). That record was second best in ABA history, behind only the 1971–72 Kentucky Colonels' mark of 68–16 (.810).RememberTheABA.com Best Single Season Performances in ABA History page The 1974–75 Nuggets also finished second in ABA history behind the 1971–72 Colonels for team scoring difference, outscoring their opponents by an average of 8.40 points per game to the 1971–72 Colonels' 8.98 points. In the Eastern Division the Kentucky Colonels won 22 of their last 25 regular season games to tie the New York Nets for first place in the Eastern Division at 58–26 (.690). Teams 1974–75 American Basketball Association Division Team City Arena Capacity Eastern Kentucky Colonels Louisville, Kentucky Freedom Hall 16,664 Memphis Sounds Memphis, Tennessee Mid-South Coliseum 10,085 New York Nets Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,571 Spirits of St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis Arena 18,006 Virginia Squires Old Dominion University Fieldhouse Hampton Coliseum Richmond Arena Salem Civic Center Roanoke Civic Center Norfolk, Virginia Hampton, Virginia Richmond, Virginia Salem, Virginia Roanoke, Virginia 5,200 9,777 6,000 6,820 9,828 Western Denver Nuggets Denver, Colorado Denver Auditorium Arena 6,841 Indiana Pacers Indianapolis, Indiana Market Square Arena 17,000 San Antonio Spurs San Antonio, Texas Hemisfair Arena 10,146 San Diego Conquistadors San Diego, California San Diego Sports Arena 14,500 Utah Stars Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Palace 12,166 Map of teams left 10px Eastern Division 10px Western Division 850 650 425 0 450 North America 1100 North America 38.20 -85.74 Red pog.svg 80 right Kentucky #ffe North America 35.12 -89.98 Red pog.svg 80 left Memphis #ffe North America 40.72 -73.59 Red pog.svg 80 right New York #ffe North America 38.63 -90.28 Red pog.svg 80 left St. Louis #ffe North America 36.88 -76.31 Red pog.svg 80 right Virginia #ffe North America 39.74 -105.00 Blue pog.svg 80 right Denver #ffe North America 39.77 -86.15 Blue pog.svg 80 left Indiana #ffe North America 29.42 -98.48 Blue pog.svg 80 left San Antonio #ffe North America 32.76 -117.21 Blue pog.svg 80 left San Diego #ffe North America 40.77 -111.90 Blue pog.svg 80 left Utah #ffe Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L PCT. GB Kentucky Colonels * 58 26 .690 — New York Nets * 58 26 .690 — Spirits of St. Louis * 32 52 .381 26 Memphis Sounds * 27 57 .321 31 Virginia Squires 15 69 .179 43 Western Division + Team W L PCT. GB Denver Nuggets * 65 19 .774 — San Antonio Spurs * 51 33 .607 14 Indiana Pacers * 45 39 .536 20 Utah Stars * 38 46 .452 27 San Diego Conquistadors 31 53 .369 34 Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team Bold – ABA champions Playoffs The 1975 ABA Playoffs began with a one-game series between the Kentucky Colonels and New York Nets for first place in the Eastern Division. The game was played on April 4, 1975, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonels won, 108 to 99. The Colonels then defeated the Memphis Sounds 4 games to 1 in the Eastern Division semifinals, while the Nets lost to the Spirits of St. Louis in the other Eastern Division semifinal, 4 games to 1. The Colonels then defeated the Spirits in the Eastern Division finals 4 games to 1. In the Western Division the first place Denver Nuggets won their semifinal round against the Utah Stars, 4 games to 2, and the third seeded Indiana Pacers upset the #2 seed San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 2 in the other Western Division semifinal. The Pacers pulled another upset in the Western Division finals, upending the Nuggets 4 games to 3. In the 1975 ABA Finals the Colonels defeated the Pacers 4 games to 1 to claim the league championship. Division Semifinals Division Finals ABA Finals Western Division Eastern Division 1 Denver Nuggets 4 4 Utah Stars 2 3 Indiana Pacers 4 2 San Antonio Spurs 2 1 Kentucky Colonels 4 4 Memphis Sounds 1 3 Spirits of St. Louis 4 2 New York Nets 1 1 Denver Nuggets 3 3 Indiana Pacers 4 1 Kentucky Colonels 4 3 Spirits of St. Louis 1 W3 Indiana Pacers 1 E1 Kentucky Colonels 4 Awards and honors thumb|upright|George "Iceman" Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs, c. 1975 On April 7, 1975, the league's MVP award for the 1974–75 season was awarded jointly to Julius Erving of the New York Nets and George McGinnis of the Indiana Pacers. Both players had received 11 votes in the balloting by sports writers and broadcasters (three from each of the ten cities in the league), with the remaining votes going to Mack Calvin (six) and Bobby Jones (two) of the Denver Nuggets.https://newspaperarchive.com/oswego-palladium-times-apr-08-1975-p-12/ Erving and McGinnis Tie for MVP Oswego Palladium Times Associated Press April 8, 1975 April 9, 2025RememberTheABA.com ABA Year-to-Year Postseason Award Winners page https://web.archive.org/web/20101224223628/http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAStatistics/Awards.html December 24, 2010 McGinnis was also the league's leading scorer at 29.78 points per game (2,353 points in 79 games). Erving was second at 27.89 points per game. Swen Nater of the San Antonio Spurs led the league in rebounding, averaging 16.40 per game. Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels was second with 16.20 per game, down from 18.31 the season before. Mack Calvin of the Denver Nuggets set second best ABA record for free throw percentage, hitting 475 of 530 attempts for an 89.622% average. Artis Gilmore was named Most Valuable Player of the 1975 ABA Playoffs. Gilmore scored 28 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in the final game of the Finals and in Game 3 in Indianapolis Gilmore scored 41 points and nabbed 28 rebounds. ABA Most Valuable Player Award: Julius Erving, New York Nets & George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers Rookie of the Year: Marvin Barnes, Spirits of St. Louis Coach of the Year: Larry Brown, Denver Nuggets Playoffs MVP: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels All-Star Game MVP: Freddie Lewis, Spirits of St. Louis Executive of the Year: Carl Scheer, Denver Nuggets All-ABA First Team Julius Erving, New York Nets (3rd First Team selection, 4th overall selection) George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers (2nd First Team selection, 3rd overall selection) Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels (4th selection) Mack Calvin, Denver Nuggets (3rd First Team selection, 4th overall selection) Ron Boone, Utah Stars (1st First Team selection, 2nd overall selection) All-ABA Second Team Marvin Barnes, Spirits of St. Louis George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs Swen Nater, San Antonio Spurs (2nd selection) Brian Taylor, New York Nets James Silas, San Antonio Spurs All-Defensive Team Don Buse, Indiana Pacers Artis Gilmore (3rd selection), Kentucky Colonels Bobby Jones, Denver Nuggets Wil Jones, Kentucky Colonels Brian Taylor, New York Nets All-Rookie Team Marvin Barnes, Spirits of St. Louis Gus Gerard, Spirits of St. Louis Bobby Jones, Denver Nuggets Billy Knight, Indiana Pacers Moses Malone, Utah Stars Sports References External links RememberTheABA.com Season summary on Basketball Reference ABA