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

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

. The

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

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 Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

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 George F. McGinnis (August 12, 1950 – December 14, 2023) was an American professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball ...

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 The Memphis Sounds were an American professional sports franchise that played in Memphis, Tennessee from 1970 until 1975 as a member of the American Basketball Association. The team was first founded as the New Orleans Buccaneers in 1967. Known d ...

and the

Carolina Cougars The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Ca ...

were bought by

Ozzie and Daniel Silna Ozzie (December 27, 1932 – April 26, 2016) and Daniel (born August 26, 1944) Silna are American businessmen of Latvian Americans, Latvian descent best known for their success in the textile industry, as well as being co-owners of the American Bas ...

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. It is located in the Western United States, in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains east of ...

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 Market Square Arena (MSA) was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of larg ...

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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

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

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

26 for the Bucks.

Regular season

On February 14, 1975, Julius Erving of the

New York Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

scored a team-record 63 points against the San Diego Conquistadors in a four overtime game, the longest game in league history at three hours as San Diego prevailed 176–166. The 8th ABA All-Star Game was played on January 28, 1975, in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. 10,449 attended. The East was coached by

Kevin Loughery Kevin Michael "Murph" Loughery (born March 28, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Loughery coached both Julius Erving and Michael Jordan, and gave Phil Jackson his first NBA coaching job. Early life Loughe ...

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. 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
/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).

Teams

Map of teams

Final standings

Eastern Division

Western Division

Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team Bold – ABA champions

Playoffs

The

1975 ABA Playoffs The 1975 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1974–75 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels defeating the Western Division champion Indiana Pace ...

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 Kentucky State Fair Board. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. 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

On April 7, 1975, the league's MVP award for the 1974–75 season was awarded jointly to

of the New York Nets and

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 Mack Calvin (born July 27, 1947) is an American former basketball player. A five-time ABA All-Star, Calvin recorded the second most assists in ABA history, and was later named to the ABA All-Time Team. High school career Calvin was born in Fort ...

(six) and Bobby Jones (two) of the Denver Nuggets.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 Swen Erick Nater (born January 14, 1950) is a Dutch former professional basketball player. He played primarily in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), and is the only player to have led both the NBA ...

of the San Antonio Spurs led the league in rebounding, averaging 16.40 per game.

Artis Gilmore Artis Gilmore Sr. (born September 21, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Gilmore was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Ba ...

of the Kentucky Colonels was second with 16.20 per game, down from 18.31 the season before.

of the Denver Nuggets set second best ABA record for free throw percentage, hitting 475 of 530 attempts for an 89.622% average.

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 &

, Indiana Pacers * Rookie of the Year:

Marvin Barnes Marvin Jerome "Bad News" Barnes (July 27, 1952 – September 8, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. A forward (basketball), forward, he was an NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, All-American at Providence College, and played p ...

, Spirits of St. Louis * Coach of the Year: Larry Brown, Denver Nuggets * Playoffs MVP:

, Kentucky Colonels * All-Star Game MVP: Freddie Lewis, Spirits of St. Louis * Executive of the Year: Carl Scheer, Denver Nuggets *All-ABA First Team **

, New York Nets (3rd First Team selection, 4th overall selection) **

, Indiana Pacers (2nd First Team selection, 3rd overall selection) **

, Kentucky Colonels (4th selection) **

, Carolina Cougars (3rd First Team selection, 4th overall selection) **

Ron Boone Ronald Bruce Boone (born September 6, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player. He had a 13-year career in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Boone set a record for most consecut ...

, Utah Stars (1st First Team selection, 2nd overall selection) *All-ABA Second Team **

, Spirits of St. Louis ** George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs **

, San Antonio Spurs (2nd selection) ** Brian Taylor, New York Nets ** James Silas, San Antonio Spurs *All-Defensive Team ** Don Buse, Indiana Pacers **

(3rd selection), Kentucky Colonels ** Bobby Jones, Denver Nuggets ** Wil Jones, Kentucky Colonels ** Brian Taylor, New York Nets *All-Rookie Team **

, Spirits of St. Louis ** Gus Gerard, Spirits of St. Louis ** Bobby Jones, Denver Nuggets **

Billy Knight William R. Knight (born June 9, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player and executive. Playing with the Indiana Pacers in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and later the National Basketball Association (NBA), he ...

, Indiana Pacers **

Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone Sr. (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 ...

, Utah Stars

References

External links

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