YouTube Gold: Julius Erving And The 1976 ABA Playoffs
As the modern game began to come into focus
By 1976, the ABA had gone to a level that no one could have imagined: with players like Julius Erving and David Thompson, what the ABA put on the floor was vastly more exciting than what the NBA was doing at that time. Most modern fans, fi they were sent back to 1976, would go to an ABA game over an NBA game virtually every time.
The league unfortunately had serious financial problems, including no meaningful TV contract and after the season merged with the NBA. Only four teams got in - New York, San Antonio, Indiana and Denver. The last two teams, St. Louis Blues and the Kentucky Colonels - folded, with their players entering a dispersal draft. The NBA would soon learn that players like Erving, Thompson, George Gervin, Maurice Lucas, Dan Issel and others were the real deal.
In 1976, Erving was playing for the New York Nets and led his team to the finals and then to the ABA championship.
Not everyone was on his level obviously, but look at this video and you’ll see plenty of hints about where he was going to take the game.