YouTube Gold: The 1972 NBA-ABA All-Star Game
A curiosity now but the ABA was a high point in the history of basketball.
The ABA was the most incredibly entertaining failure in American sports history. The league had innovations that are with us still: the three point shot and the red, white and blue ball, which is one of the great designs in all of sports history.
The ABA’s great problem was financial stability - it had none - and that was compounded by not having a TV contract.
The league was around in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s and there weren’t many opportunities for TV contracts. You basically had ABC, NBC and CBS and that was about it and it wasn’t like the NBA was killing it on TV either.
Nonetheless, there were some opportunities including some NBA vs.ABA All-Star games.
This one is from 1972 and had some great players on both sides. The NBA featured Wilt Chamberlain, John Havlicek and Tiny Archibald,while the ABA had Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and Rick Barry.
It’s a fun look at a world that is long gone.
And by the way, they used the ABA ball and the three point line is on the court as well.