{"id":181304,"date":"2020-05-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/?p=181304"},"modified":"2020-05-12T14:26:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T18:26:01","slug":"new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Nets Win Final ABA Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On this day 44 years ago, the New York Nets won the final ABA championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It took six games for the Nets to separate themselves from the Denver Nuggets, but on May 13, 1976, a 112-106 victory in Game 6 solidified New York&#8217;s supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest star of the Nets and the entire ABA, Julius &#8220;Dr. J&#8221; Erving, put on a show in the league&#8217;s sendoff, scoring 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field and hauling down 19 rebounds. His teammates, Brian Taylor and John Williamson, combined for another 52 points and Jim Eakins had a double-double of his own on 15 points and 13 boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Julius Erving (31pts\/19rebs) vs. Nuggets (1976 ABA Finals\/Last ABA Game)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0qNqZVklGm0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. J <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/197605130NYA.html\" data-lasso-id=\"2319\">wasn&#8217;t the only massive name<\/a> on the court that night: Denver had Rookie of the Year David Thompson on its squad, and he put up 42 points in a losing effort. Dan Issel also had a huge night for the Nuggets, posting 30 points and 20 rebounds in Game 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately for Denver, though, it surrendered a massive fourth-quarter lead, letting the Nets come back from a 20-point deficit in the game&#8217;s final period, ending the series, 4-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>&#8220;I never doubted this team. We knew we had a shot,&#8221; Nets head coach Kevin Loughery said when asked what he was thinking when his team was down 22 in the third quarter. &#8220;Great players did it. People underestimated our team all year. (This is) the happiest basketball moment of my life.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a fitting end to an incredible series, with no team winning any game by double digits. The series was knotted at 1-1 after two showdowns &#8211; New York taking Game 1, 120-118, before Denver responded in Game 2, 127-121 &#8211; and then the Nets won back-to-back games to take a 3-1 advantage. The Nuggets avoided elimination in Game 5, 118-110, but couldn&#8217;t hold their late lead in Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, Bob,&#8221; Williamson said to a reporter in the post-game locker room celebration when he asked him how much he scored in the second half. &#8220;All I know, we got that diamond again. The feeling of having that diamond again. I&#8217;m on top of the world, number one!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"1976 ABA Finals Game 6- Denver Nuggets at New York Nets (Part 5)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zx0fgMDeetc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Nets entered the 1976 ABA Playoffs as the No. 2 seed following a 55-29 regular season. It moved by No. 3 seed San Antonio Spurs, 4-3, in the semifinals to play the top-seeded Nuggets in the championship. Denver, which went 60-24 prior to the postseason, dispatched of No. 4 seed Kentucky Colonels in the semifinals, 4-3, to reach the ultimate series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trophylives.wordpress.com\/2015\/05\/13\/may-13-1976-dr-j-rallies-nets-to-win-last-aba-championship\/\" data-lasso-id=\"2320\">In the month<\/a> after New York won the championship, the Nets, the Nuggets, <a href=\"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/when-was-the-last-time-the-spurs-missed-the-playoffs\/\" data-lasso-id=\"2321\">the Spurs<\/a> and the Indiana Pacers left the ABA to join the NBA, with the rest of the ABA folding. That meant the championship Dr. J and the Nets won in 1976 was the last one the ABA administered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find almost the entirety of Game 6 on YouTube to relive a defining basketball moment that people might not have understood the importance of at the time or even still don&#8217;t today. While the ABA didn&#8217;t survive beyond 1976, the up-tempo, high-octane play style and fan-focused atmosphere helped shape a lot of what we&#8217;ve seen in basketball now and since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"1976 ABA Finals Game 6- Denver Nuggets at New York Nets (Part 1)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AiAxvRtKLvQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In that sense, the ABA is still alive and well in 2020, at least to the degree that anything can be alive and well in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this day 44 years ago, the New York Nets won the final ABA championship. It took six&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":181308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"categories":[595,177],"tags":[5961,474,5963,478,5962,5960],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.2 (Yoast SEO v19.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New York Nets Win Final ABA Championship - Nothing But Nylon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this day 44 years ago, the New York Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets, 112-106, in Game 6 of the 1976 ABA Championship Series to win the ABA&#039;s last title.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Nets Win Final ABA Championship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On this day 44 years ago, the New York Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets, 112-106, in Game 6 of the 1976 ABA Championship Series to win the ABA&#039;s last title.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nothing But Nylon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/nothingbutnylon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-13T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-12T18:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/fivestarmedia\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1634158677\/basketball\/NYNets_ABA_1976\/NYNets_ABA_1976.png?_i=AA\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"329\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Meyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JustinButNylon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nothingbutnylon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Meyer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/new-york-nets-win-final-aba-championship\/\",\"name\":\"New York Nets Win Final ABA Championship - 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