The 1974–75 ABA season was the eighth season of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

. The Kentucky Colonels won the 1975 ABA Championship after winning the Eastern Division; the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

won the Western Division.

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

and George McGinnis shared the league's MVP award.

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 and became the Spirits of St. Louis. The Western Division remained unchanged save for the

Denver Rockets Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

renaming themselves the

. 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. Among those games was the Pacers' first game in Market Square Arena in which they defeated the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

118-115 before a standing room only crowd of 17,287; Bob Dandridge had 46 points and

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim ...

26 for the Bucks.

Regular season

On February 14, 1975, Julius Erving of the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

scored a team-record 63 points against the San Diego Conquistadors in a four overtime game. The 8th ABA All-Star Game was played on January 28, 1975, in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. 10,449 attended. The East was coached by

Kevin Loughery Kevin Michael Loughery (born March 28, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Career biography Loughery spent 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (1962–1973), almost nine of them with the Baltimore ...

of the

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
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).
/ref> 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).

Final standings

Eastern Division

Western Division

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 Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the h ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

. 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.

Awards and honors

The league's MVP award for the 1974-75 season was awarded jointly to

of the New York Nets and George McGinnis of the Indiana Pacers.RememberTheABA.com ABA Year-to-Year Postseason Award Winners page
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 an all time 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:

, 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 Carl Scheer (December 14, 1936 – December 13, 2019) was an American basketball executive. Over his career, he served as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets. He was also the commissioner of the Co ...

, Denver Nuggets *All-ABA First Team **

, 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, Carolina Cougars (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 George Gervin ( ; born April 27, 1952), nicknamed "the Iceman", is an American former professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, ...

, 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 Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A cen ...

, Utah Stars

References

External links

RememberTheABA.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 ABA season

ABA ABA may refer to: Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, United States * Asahi Broadcasting Aomori, Japanese television station * Australian Broadcasting Authority Education * Académie des Beaux- ...