YouTube Gold: Game 6 Of The 1976 ABA Finals

The end of a strange and glorious era

By 1976, the ABA was all but dead and the merger with the NBA would come soon after the season ended.

The older league would only take four teams though but two of those teams got to the ABA championship that year, the New York Nets and the Denver Nuggets. And both of those teams were terrific.

Denver featured NC State legend David Thompson, UNC great Bobby Jones and Dan Issel, while New York had Julius “Dr. J” Erving, future Boston College coach Al Skinner and Bill Melchionni, whose brother Gary was playing at Duke.

The entire thing reeks of the 1970’s, right down to Al Alberts’ astonishing hair-do.

New York would go on to win this game and thus the final ABA championship.

After the merger, Erving would end up with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he would eventually be joined by Bobby Jones, who would help make the 1983 Sixers one of the best teams in NBA history.

David Thompson would find his brilliant career shortened by injuries and drugs. Monte Towe, who was terrific for part of this game, would play through 1977 in the NBA. At 5-7, he was at an obvious disadvantage.

Small but interesting trivia: Alberts informs HBO viewers that Mr. Super Invisible would air later due to the game.

Before you get too carried away, HBO was four years old in 1976 and this was Mr. Super Invisible.