1975 ABA Playoffs - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 1975 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association

American Basketball Association

The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...

's 1974-1975 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels

The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

defeating the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

, four games to one in the ABA Finals.
The Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels

won 22 of their final 25 regular season games to catch the New York Nets for a share of first place in the Eastern Division. The Colonels won their last ten regular season games of the regular season. They also went 13-3 in the ABA playoffs.

Because the Colonels and Nets tied for first place in the Eastern Division, a special one game playoff was played to determine the conference champion. The Colonels hosted the game and defeated the Nets 108-99 on April 4, 1975.

The Memphis Sounds

Memphis Sounds

Memphis Sounds was the final name of a franchise in the American Basketball Association. The team had begun as the New Orleans Buccaneers, and after three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it had occasionally played some home games in the past to reasonable crowds...

' Eastern Division 111-99 semifinal loss on the road to the Kentucky Colonels on April 13, 1975 was the final game ever played by the Sounds. After the season they moved to Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

and became the Baltimore Claws

Baltimore Claws

The Baltimore Claws was an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975-76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games in its brief history.-Background:...

.

The first round win by the Spirits of St. Louis

Spirits of St. Louis

The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...

over the New York Nets was the biggest upset of the playoffs. Not only had the Spirits finished 26 games behind the Nets in the regular season, they had also lost all 11 regular season matchups to the Nets, and by an average of 17.3 points per game. But after losing the opener of the series to stretch the losing streak to 12, the Spirits rolled off four wins in a row to claim the series.

The 1975 ABA Finals marked the second time in three years that the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers met in the ABA championship series. The Pacers edged the Colonels 4 games to 3 at the end of the 1973 ABA Playoffs

1973 ABA Playoffs

The 1973 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1972-1973 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers defeating the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels, four games to three in the ABA Finals.-Notable...

.

16,622 fans attended the final playoff game of the season in Freedom Hall

Freedom Hall

Freedom Hall is a multipurpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky...

in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

as the Kentucky Colonels defeated the Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

110-105 to win the ABA Championship.

Artis Gilmore

Artis Gilmore

Artis Gilmore is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association...

was named Most Valuable Player of the 1975 ABA Playoffs

ABA Playoffs Most Valuable Player

The ABA Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award was an annual American Basketball Association award given in the ABA Playoffs. The award was first awarded in the 1968 ABA Playoffs, and was retired as part of the ABA–NBA merger...

. 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.

The 1975 Kentucky Colonels were the final team to win an ABA Championship but not move on to the NBA later.

Western Division

Champion: Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

Division Semifinals

(1) Denver Nuggets
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...

vs. (4) Utah Stars

Utah Stars

The Utah Stars was an American Basketball Association team based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround.-History:...

:
Nuggets win series 4-2

Game 1 @ Denver: Denver 122, Utah 107
Game 2 @ Denver: Denver 126, Utah 120
Game 3 @ Utah: Utah 122, Denver 108
Game 4 @ Utah: Utah 132, Denver 110
Game 5 @ Denver: Denver 130, Utah 119
Game 6 @ Utah: Denver 115, Utah 113

(2) San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....

vs. (3) Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

:
Pacers win series 4-2

Game 1 @ San Antonio: Indiana 122, San Antonio 119
Game 2 @ San Antonio: Indiana 98, San Antonio 93
Game 3 @ Indiana: Indiana 113, San Antonio 103
Game 4 @ Indiana: San Antonio 110, Indiana 109
Game 5 @ San Antonio: San Antonio 123, Indiana 117
Game 6 @ Indiana: Indiana 115, San Antonio 100

Division Finals

(1) Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...

Game 1 @ Denver: Denver 131, Indiana 128
Game 2 @ Denver: Indiana 131, Denver 124
Game 3 @ Indiana: Indiana 118, Denver 112
Game 4 @ Indiana: Denver 126, Indiana 109
Game 5 @ Denver: Indiana 109, Denver 90
Game 6 @ Indiana: Denver 104, Indiana 99
Game 7 @ Denver: Indiana 104, Denver 96

Eastern Division

Champion: Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

Division Semifinals

(1) Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

vs. (4) Memphis Sounds

Memphis Sounds

:
Colonels win series 4-1

Game 1 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 98, Memphis 91
Game 2 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 119, Memphis 105
Game 3 @ Memphis: Kentucky 101, Memphis 80
Game 4 @ Memphis: Memphis 107, Kentucky 93
Game 5 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 111, Memphis 99

(2) New York Nets vs. (3) Spirits of St. Louis
Spirits of St. Louis
The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...

:
Spirits win series 4-1

Game 1 @ New York: New York 111, St. Louis 105
Game 2 @ New York: St. Louis 115, New York 97
Game 3 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 113, New York 108
Game 4 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 100, New York 89
Game 5 @ New York: St. Louis 108, New York 107

Division Finals

(1) Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

vs. (3) Spirits of St. Louis

Spirits of St. Louis

:
Colonels win series 4-1

Game 1 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 112, St. Louis 109
Game 2 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 108, St. Louis 103
Game 3 @ St. Louis: St. Louis 103, Kentucky 97
Game 4 @ St. Louis: Kentucky 117, St. Louis 98
Game 5 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 123, St. Louis 103

ABA Finals

(1) Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

VS. (3) Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

:
Colonels win series 4-1

Game 1 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 120, Indiana 94
Game 2 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 95, Indiana 93
Game 3 @ Indiana: Kentucky 109, Indiana 101
Game 4 @ Indiana: Indiana 94, Kentucky 86
Game 5 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 110, Indiana 105

External links

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