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Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Julius Erving as Viewed by his Contemporaries, Part II
In my October 3, 2013 article Julius Erving as Viewed by his Contemporaries, I quoted several people--including coaches Adolph Rupp, Kevin Loughery, and Babe McCarthy--who praised Erving as a great all-around player and great clutch performer. Since that time, I did in depth archival research of articles published throughout Erving's pro basketball career, and it is fascinating to see how Erving was perceived and described during those years. This article focuses on 1972-74, covering Erving's first three professional seasons.
Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers recognized Erving's greatness very quickly. When Erving was a rookie during the 1971-72 season, Rick Barry predicted that Erving would become the greatest forward of all-time: "He's almost reached that point already. He's blessed with everything it takes to be number one: jumping ability, speed, soft touch, big hands, desire to excel, and the great attitude" (quoted in Pete Vecsey's February 5, 1972 New York Daily News column). Carl Braun compared rookie Erving to Elgin Baylor--at that time widely considered to be the greatest forward of all-time--and concluded that Baylor was stronger but Erving was faster. Braun added that Erving was not only a great forward but Erving was versatile and skilled enough to become the best guard in pro basketball: "Like Jerry West, you don't 'stop' Erving, he just has an off night" (quoted in Jerry Cassidy's April 27, 1972 article in the New York Daily News). Even before Erving won the first of his two ABA titles, Willis Reed
called him "the best young forward I've ever seen," a quote mentioned
in Dave Anderson's October 1, 1972 syndicated column discussing the
bidding war for Erving's services.
Gary Long's April 6, 1972 Miami Herald article included quotes from two of Erving's Virginia Squires teammates. After
rookie Erving tied the ABA single game playoff scoring record with 53 points as his Squires defeated the Floridians 118-113, Ray Scott--who played 10 years in the NBA before joining the Squires--said, "There's never been anyone in the NBA like him. There's
nobody I can compare Julius with. He's first. What's really beautiful is
he's still learning, and he's willing to learn." Adrian
Smith, the 1966 NBA All-Star Game MVP who joined the Squires after a 10
year NBA career, declared, "In my 11 years in pro basketball, I've never
seen another guy come into the game like this one."
Milwaukee Bucks' Coach Larry Costello called Erving "probably the best forward playing basketball today," and Chicago Bulls' Coach Dick Motta asserted that Erving is "the best basketball player around" (both quotes are from a syndicated UPI article published on September 24, 1972).
A little while later, Motta said of Erving, "The man has to be the most exciting basketball player I've ever seen. He means 25 percent, no make that 30 percent, more power to the team he plays for." Motta added, "If Milwaukee gets Erving, everybody can pack it up for the next 20 years. Teaming him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would mean the end of any real competition in the NBA." Those quotes appeared in the October 12, 1972 edition of The Atlanta Constitution when Erving was under contract with the Squires, had signed a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, and had been drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks. Erving played for the Hawks in the 1972 preseason before a court ruling sent him back to Virginia, where he played one more season before being traded to the New York Nets.
Atlanta Hawks' Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons called Erving--who was not even halfway through his second pro season--"the most spectacular player I've ever seen play the game, and I've seen a few...For example, Spencer Haywood of Seattle was All-NBA last season, and he can't do HALF the things Erving can on the court" (quoted in Dave Hicks' December 3, 1972 column in The Arizona Republic).
In his August 4, 1973 New York Daily News column, Dick Young wrote (in his trademark staccato style, with some missing definite articles), "It was off-the-record at time, but I suppose it's okay to tell now: About a year ago, Al McGuire was asked to name best basketball player in land. 'Julius Erving,' he said. 'And Number 2 is Rick Barry.'" Note that McGuire expressed that opinion before Erving joined the New York Nets. During Erving's three seasons with the Nets, he won three regular season MVPs, two ABA titles, two ABA Playoff MVPs, and two scoring titles (to go along with the scoring title he won in 1973 with the Squires, averaging a career-high 31.9 ppg).
In an August 9, 1973 Highland Park News and Journal article, Bob Guerrero raved about Erving's first Los Angeles appearance after Erving scored a game-high 31 points in the Ralph Bunche Memorial Basketball Benefit that pitted Erving's Pro All-Stars (including Connie Hawkins, Charlie Scott, and Paul Westphal) versus a UCLA Alumni team featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, and Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. The Pro All-Stars won 143-105, and Guerrero was very impressed by Erving:
He's said to be the best forward in professional basketball and may well be one of the best cagers of all-time...
Dr. J, as he's known around the ABA and the rest of the basketball world, defies description on the basketball court and might be a combination between a Walt Frazier and Elgin Baylor.
At 6-7 he lacks the size of a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or a Wilt Chamberlain, but plays defense with the abilities of a Bill Russell in his prime.
Erving has an unlimited assortment of shots only because he reacts to the pressure of the defensive player after it is applied and can usually be seen sailing or twisting toward the basket with two or three other players trying to stop him.
What he does with a basketball is usually seen just once, he may have as much trouble describing his shot[s] as people who saw them from the stands.
UCLA has long been noted for basketball excellence, having dominated the college game for the past 10 years almost as regularly as the sun coming up, with players like Jabbar, Keith Erickson, Sidney Wicks, Lucius Allen, Curtis Rowe, and company.
But never in the history of Pauley Pavilion has a star the magnitude of Julius Erving done his thing, whatever it may be, with a basketball.
Erving made the All-Defensive Team once in his 16 season professional career, but he ranks among the all-time leaders in both steals and blocked shots, and his teams regularly ranked among the league leaders in points allowed and defensive field goal percentage, so it is interesting that Guerrero heaped such praise on Erving's defense after watching Erving play in an exhibition game. It is also noteworthy that Guerrero called Erving the biggest star to ever play in Pauley Pavilion right after mentioning Abdul-Jabbar's record-setting UCLA career.
A September 4, 1973 article by Ralph Trower of the The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) quoted Jim Chones--a member of the ABA's 1973 All-Rookie Team--declaring, "Erving is the best I've ever seen."
Even at a young age, Erving had a thoughtful approach to his craft. An October 21, 1973 New York Daily News article by Kay Gilman quoted Erving explaining how he developed his unique playing style: "I'm a Pisces. I have a wild imagination and I've always been one to experiment. I used to watch games on TV. My palms would sweat and I'd think of moves no one else had done. I'd learn by watching good guys and bad guys. I'd dream up fantastic moves and then go out on the court and make them work. Some of them took a long time. I'm underweight. I'm not going to be able to jump higher or run faster. Eventually I will slow down. I've got to magnify my strengths--my quickness and my moves. It's called experience."
Erving did not brag, but he always had justified confidence in his abilities. Responding to a question early in his career, Erving said, "Am I the best? Well, I haven't seen them all, but the ones I've seen sure can't do the stuff I can do."
Advertising by definition involves some degree of hype/promotion, but it is worth noting that early in the 1973-74 season the San Antonio Spurs called Erving "one of the best forwards to ever play the game" in a newspaper ad for tickets to the upcoming Spurs-Nets game. Tickets for that game were available for $5, $4, and $2!
Despite all of the accolades and despite his gaudy statistics, Erving focused on team success, not personal glory. Prior to the Nets' October 31, 1973 game versus the Denver Rockets, Erving told reporters, "There are two ways you can determine how well you played. How you feel, and what the stat sheet says. I go by how you feel." Erving scored 38 points on 13-21 field goal shooting in a 107-104 loss, and afterward he said, "How good can you feel about losing?" The Nets started 4-1 in 1973-74, but then lost nine straight games, including a 121-109 setback versus the Kentucky Colonels on November 2, 1973. After that game, Erving said, "I don't care about my own performance. I'm terrifically disappointed because we lost. Nothing else mattered."
It has become fashionable to speak of a star player's "gravity," most notably in reference to Stephen Curry, so it is important to emphasize that Curry is not the first player whose greatness drew extra defensive attention that created open shots for his teammates. Early in the 1973-74 season, Nets' center Billy Paultz said, "Erving has only helped me. Julius opens things up for me, because when Dr. J goes one on one to the basket, he either forces a foul or a double team. If my man tries to double team, that leaves me open for a short jumper."
In a November 13, 1973 Memphis Commercial Appeal feature article, Woody Paige wrote of Erving, "...he has averaged close to 30 points a game and 15 rebounds a game, and most say he can be the best forward ever to play; others claim he already is. It is said that two doctors influenced basketball: Dr. James Naismith invented it, and Dr. J is making it an art."
In a December 3, 1973 UPI report filed after the Nets defeated the Carolina Cougars, 121-103, Cougars forward and 1973 ABA MVP Billy Cunningham--who became Erving's coach with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1977--said of Erving, "He's sensational, one of the best ever." Erving had 32 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, six blocked shots, and four steals versus Cunningham and the Cougars. In that same report, Nets Coach Kevin Loughery declared, "I've been in basketball a long time, and I've never seen anyone play better than Doc has in the last 10 games. He hasn't just been scoring or rebounding. He's been everywhere."
Erving's reported salary for the 1973-74 season was $300,000, which ranked third in the ABA and tied for eighth in pro basketball. In the January 4, 1974 edition of the Holland Evening Sentinel (Michigan), Leo Martonosi opined, "We feel that the 'pro jocks' are overpaid and they eventually could kill the goose that laid the 'Golden egg.'" If Martonosi thought that athletes making more than the President earned ($200,000 a year at that time) was a problem, what would he have thought of today's athletes who earn tens of millions of dollars per year?
As noted above, Erving was an excellent defensive player even though he only received one All-Defensive Team selection. After Erving held Dan Issel--at that point the ABA's leading scorer--to 12 points as Erving's Nets defeated Issel's Kentucky Colonels 83-82 in a December 19, 1973 game, Loughery said of Erving, "That's the real superstar...He has such tremendous pride...people don't recognize his defensive ability because he's also a top scorer." Erving finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, and two steals. Per Doug Smith's December 20, 1973 Newsday recap, Erving scored 16 fourth quarter points, including the game-winning jump shot from the foul line area.
A January 20, 1974 AP story noted that Erving ranked among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, steals, assists, and field goal percentage, and contained this Loughery quote about Erving's impact: "I've never seen anyone better. In overall ability, he's as good as anyone I've ever seen. He does so much offensively and defensively, and he's also a leader in his own quiet way. The guys look to him. He's tremendously coachable and that makes it easier for me. He not only has unique talents, he's a unique guy."
A February 27, 1974 L.A. Times article by Dwight Chapin quoted Loughery raving about Erving: "He's the best and most exciting forward in pro basketball. And even though he's only 23, he's a leader. I mean a real leader. You know what he can do on the court. Off the court, he's one of the nicest guys you'd want to be around." Erving transformed the Nets into winners not just with his superior basketball skills but also with his leadership. Erving explained, "The reputation of the Nets last year was that if you got up on them early, they'd start squabbling among themselves. They were losers. From the minute I knew I was coming here I was preparing myself to stop that. I knew I'd have leadership responsibilities. There has to be criticism among the players, but I guess what I've tried to do is make it constructive and cut down on meaningless griping. I don't think you should cuss a guy out for missing a pass. You should boost him up by saying something like, 'It's all right. We'll get it next time.' And when something goes wrong in a game or there's a flareup at practice I know it's easier for me to be the one who apologizes. A guy who the public doesn't consider such a big star might feel, 'Damn, I'm not going to bow down to the blankety-blank just because he's the big shot around here.' But for me it's no problem to go over and say I'm sorry."
In that same article, Doug Moe--a three-time ABA All-Star who later became an assistant coach in the ABA and a head coach in the NBA--said of Erving, "He comes at you with those long, open strides, and you have a tendency to keep backing away because you think he's not really into his move yet. If you keep backing, if you fail to go up and challenge him, he'll simply glide right by you."
A March 25, 1974 article in the Greeley Daily Tribune (Colorado) described a 112-100 Nets victory over the Denver Rockets during which Erving scored 21 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and "brought the crowd to its feet in the first half when he slam dunked the ball on a fast break. He left the floor at the free throw line, cocked the ball behind his head, then rammed it through the hoop." I have heard some people suggest that the slam dunks from previous eras were "basic" compared to what players do today; the next time any player dunks from the free throw line in a game, feel free to make note in the comments section of this article.
After Erving scored a game-high 43 points on 19-26 field goal shooting, grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, and dished for a team-high six assists in the season finale--a 102-96 win over the Denver Rockets that clinched the Eastern Division title for the Nets--Loughery said, "During the last month, Doc has been the best forward I've seen. He can't do any more than he has already done."
In 1973-74, Erving's unselfish leadership and great all-around play--he
finished in the top ten in scoring (first, thus notching his second
consecutive scoring title), rebounding (seventh), assists (sixth), field
goal percentage (ninth), steals (third), and blocked shots (third)--helped
the Nets post a 55-29 regular season record before going 12-2 in the
playoffs en route to the franchise's first championship. The Nets
tied the pro basketball record for best playoff winning percentage set
by the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. That mark stood until Moses Malone and
Erving led the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers to a 12-1 postseason run in
1982-83 (the current record is 16-1, held by the 2016-17 Golden State
Warriors).
Erving won the first of his four regular season MVP awards, and as he accepted that honor he said, "My goals were to rise to the top and realize my God-given talents to
their greatest potential and to make whatever team I'm playing for a
winner. One of the things I want to do in my career is to be acknowledged as one of the best players who has played the game." Erving singlehandedly won several games for the Nets during the last month of the season, prompting Loughery to declare, "In all my years in professional basketball I've never seen a better player than Doc was during that time."
As the 1974 ABA playoffs began, Kentucky Colonels coach Babe McCarthy said, "The Doctor is the most dynamic player in the American Basketball Association. He can do things with a basketball that you thought no mortal man ever could." During the regular season, Erving hit a game-winning shot versus the
Colonels that all but clinched the regular season Eastern Division title
for the Nets; he scored 41 points on 16-25 field goal shooting in that 114-112 overtime win on March 16, 1974. Eight days later, Erving had 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and yet another game-winning shot as the Nets beat the Spurs, 99-97.
The April 14, 1974 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader
included this quote from Larry Brown, then the Carolina Cougars' coach:
"Julius does things with a basketball that must be seen to be accepted.
He's 6-7 and he plays like he's 7-7. Or he's quick enough to play like
5-7. He has his own style and nobody else has it. I don't think there's a
better player anywhere."
In the first round of the 1974 ABA playoffs, the Nets faced Erving's previous team, the Virginia Squires, and won the series 4-1 as Erving averaged 26.0 ppg, 8.4 rpg, and 6.0 apg with shooting splits of .562/.400/.737. The Nets swept the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division Finals as Erving averaged 29.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg, and 3.0 apg with shooting splits of .515/.667/.733.
Erving had a game-high 30 points and a team-high 14 rebounds in New York's 89-87 game three win versus Kentucky, capping off his performance by hitting the game-winning shot at the buzzer over Hall of Fame center Artis Gilmore. After the game, McCarthy said, "When the pressure is on and the chips are down, he might be as good as anybody in the game."
Here is a photo of Erving's game three game-winning shot:
After Erving scored a game-high 47 points to lead the Nets to an 89-85 victory over the Utah Stars in game one of the 1974 ABA Finals, the postgame conversation focused on whether Erving had already established himself as the greatest forward of all-time. Loughery said, "Baylor was the best for a longer time, but Doc is a better all-around player than Baylor ever was. Doc can do everything Baylor could do on offense and more, and he plays much better defense." Utah Coach Joe Mullaney declared, "I've seen him have a few other games like this. He's just the best there is. He never throws up a bad shot, and when he's looking to the basket he's just unstoppable." Erving's scoring outburst fell just six points short of the ABA single game playoff scoring record that he shared with Roger Brown.
In a May 2, 1974 syndicated column, Dave Anderson quoted legendary
coach Adolph Rupp, who called Erving "The Babe Ruth of basketball." Rupp
also said, "Up until now, I always thought Jerry West was the greatest
basketball player I ever saw, with Oscar Robertson right behind him, but
I think right now that Julius Erving is the best." One of the things
that set Erving apart from other great players is that, even as a young pro, he proved capable of
playing forward, center, and guard. Anderson quoted Loughery: "We used Doc at center
when Billy Paultz was hurt and Doc did well. We haven't used him at
guard too often, but if we did he'd be an All-Star guard. At center, his
size might hurt him but he's a leader. If he was a center, he'd be
right there when they picked the All-Star center." It is notable that Erving not only dominated game one offensively--shooting 19-29 from the field and
9-10 from the free throw line--but in the final six minutes of the game
he took the defensive assignment on Jimmy Jones, and held the All-ABA
First Team guard to just one point. Erving's defense and positional versatility are inexplicably ignored or diminished when today's "experts" talk about the greatest basketball players of all-time.
Erving scored a game-high 32 points as the Nets won game two, 118-94. The Nets trailed 94-91 near the end of the fourth quarter of game three, and Loughery drew up a play for Erving to attempt a three point shot. That play call may surprise those who believe the fiction that Erving was not a good shooter or that he only became an adequate shooter later in his career, but the reality is that Erving shot .395 (17-43) from three point range that season; he would have led the league in three point field goal percentage but for the fact that he was just short of making the minimum number of three point field goals (20) to qualify for the leaderboard. It is very important to note that only 15 ABA players made at least 20 three point field goals that season, and Erving's total of 17 3FGM ranked 19th in the league; this was long before "stat gurus" contrived "advanced basketball statistics" to support the argument that every shot attempt should be a layup, a free throw, or a three point shot. Loughery explained why he called the play for Erving: "Doc is by far the best in the league on three pointers." The "by far" description is an exaggeration--Louie Dampier shot .387 (48-124) from beyond the arc that season, just a shade worse than Erving while attempting almost three times as many three pointers as Erving--but it would no doubt surprise many "experts" that Erving was a reliable enough three point shooter that his coach drew up a play for Erving to shoot a three pointer when his team trailed by three points in an ABA Finals game. The Stars guarded Erving tightly to prevent him from getting a shot off, but after Wendell Ladner missed a three pointer the Nets secured the rebound and Brian Taylor drained a three pointer to send the game to overtime. The Nets won 103-100 as Erving led the team in scoring (24 points), rebounding (13), and assists (seven).
In a May 9, 1974 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bill Lyon wrote:
...there is growing opinion that Erving is the best player--ABA, NBA, or interplanetary--to ever slam dunk his way along a baseline.
Billy Cunningham, who has been a star in both the ABA and the old, established NBA, says point blank: "He's the most exciting player I have ever seen."
Testifies Dave DeBusschere, probably the NBA's finest defensive forward: "He's the best basketball player there is right now. I expect him to go and become the greatest who ever played the game." The reason DeBusschere was smiling when he said that was he has signed a 10-year contract to become the Nets' general manager, starting next year.
Willie Wise of Utah, who tried to guard Dr. J for one half and "held" him to 12-for-14 from the field in the first game of the ABA title finals, just shook his head:
"Baby, if he's not the best, then I'm in for a REAL treat."
Adds a slightly awed writer who has covered Dr. J regularly:
"I gave up trying to describe his moves. Even the average ones are semi-incredible; the rest they ought to get on tape and ship right to the Hall of Fame."
On a ho-hum, so-so night Erving, playing forward, will score 30 points, grab a dozen rebounds, deal out a handful of assists and, at the other end of the court, produce perhaps 10 turnovers with steals and blocked shots. His total worth, offensively and defensively, what points he accounts for and what points he denies the opposition, may approach 75 in a game.
The Stars avoided a sweep by winning game four, 97-89. Erving scored a team-high (but series low) 18 points on 9-22 field goal shooting. In a UPI article dated May 10, 1974, Wise pushed back against any assertions that he had stopped Erving:
"Actually, nobody stops Erving. He just had a bad shooting night. All anyone can do is wave, shout, and carry on in the hope that he'll miss a few."
That would turn out to be Erving's second lowest point total in an ABA or NBA Finals game; he scored at least 20 points in 31 of his 33 career Finals games, and his streak of 26 straight Finals games with at least 20 points is second all-time to Michael Jordan's 35 game streak. Note that Stephen Curry, who is often lauded as a Pantheon-level player, failed to score at least 20 points in eight of his 34 NBA Finals games.
With the Nets on the verge of winning the title, DeBusschere praised Erving's ability to draw fouls by driving to the hoop, and he mentioned an underrated aspect of Erving's game: "He's quite a playmaker...some of those passes just went bang, bang, bang."
After Erving's New York Nets defeated the Utah Stars 4-1 in the 1974 ABA Finals, the Associated Press' Bert Rosenthal wrote a May 12, 1974 article including some interesting quotes about Erving. Utah Coach Joe Mullaney said, "He's just a fantastic player. He's exceptionally gifted. He has a unique talent. He has that real long body, a soft touch on his shots, amazing physical equipment, and he's so unselfish, something you rarely see in a player of his caliber." Arnie Ferrin, then the Utah Stars' general manager, declared, "He's as
good a basketball player as I've ever seen. Obviously, he's the best
forward in the game."
In the 1974 ABA Finals, Erving averaged 28.2 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg, and 1.4 bpg with shooting splits of .513/.333/.750. In 1974, Erving led the ABA in playoff scoring for the third straight time (27.9 ppg) while also averaging 9.6 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.6 spg, and 1.4 bpg. Championship teams tend to have experienced veterans, but the Nets featured the youngest starting lineup in pro basketball.
In a May 16, 1974 UPI article, Milton Richman cited Rupp calling Erving the Erving the best basketball player ever, and Richman concluded, "For Julius Erving, or Dr. J as everybody calls him, I have the feeling this is only the beginning. I can't ever remember a young man his age accomplishing and accumulating so much, so quickly, and still staying unspoiled."
Perhaps Dan Issel put it simplest when asked his opinion about Erving, as quoted in the May 23, 1974 Kentucky New Era: "I think he's the best basketball player in the world today."
Stephen Curry is the 30th Member of Pro Basketball's 25,000 Point Club
On Saturday March 8, Stephen Curry joined pro basketball's 25,000 point club while scoring a game-high 32 points as his Golden State Warriors won at home versus the much improved Detroit Pistons, 115-110. The NBA and its media partners count Curry as the 25,000 point club's 26th member because they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge ABA statistics, thereby wrongly excluding Julius Erving (who scored 30,026 career points), Dan Issel (27,482), George Gervin (26,595), and Rick Barry (25,279).
Curry ranks fifth among active players on the career scoring list, trailing only LeBron James (the NBA's career scoring leader who is also the sole member of the 40,000 point club), Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. DeMar DeRozan needs to score 123 points to be the next member of the 25,000 point club. Chris Paul is 2158 points short, but the soon to be 40 year old has not scored 1000 points in a season since 2020-21 so it seems unlikely that he will join the 25,000 point club.
Curry, West, and Russell Westbrook are the only 25,000 point club members who are shorter than 6-4, which is yet another reminder of how much size matters in pro basketball. As I discussed in my article about Westbrook joining the 25,000 point club, Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, West, and Havlicek were the "charter" members of the 25,000 point club, and then the club added six members in the 1980s: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Dan Issel, Elvin Hayes, George Gervin,
Moses Malone and Rick Barry.
Even though the 25,000 point club is not as exclusive as it used to be, joining the club is still meaningful: a player who averages 25 ppg and plays in 80 games per season for 12 years would fall short, highlighting the combination of durability and high level productivity that it takes to surpass 25,000 points.
Russell Westbrook Joins the Elite 25,000 Point Club, and is the Second Player With 25,000 Points/9000 Assists/8000 Rebounds
Last Friday night, Russell Westbrook joined pro basketball's 25,000 point club after scoring 23 points as his L.A. Clippers defeated the Detroit Pistons, 136-125. According to the NBA and its media partners, Westbrook is the 25th member of the 25,000 point club--but ABA statistics should be counted by the NBA just like AFL statistics are counted by the NFL, so the truth is that the 25,000 point club has 29 members. Julius Erving (30,026 career points, ranking eighth all-time), Dan Issel (27,482 points, 13th), George Gervin (26,595 points, 18th), and Rick Barry (25,279 points, 26th) are the ABA players who are excluded by the NBA, while former ABA player Moses Malone is docked 2171 points but still makes the "official" cut.
Younger fans may not realize that the 25,000 point club used to be even
more exclusive. The "charter" members, so to speak, are Wilt
Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and John Havlicek, who founded
the club from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, the
club added six members: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who is still the all-time
scoring leader), Julius Erving, Dan Issel, Elvin Hayes, George Gervin,
Moses Malone and Rick Barry. The club has since more than doubled in
size. This is similar to the dramatic increase in the number of chess
players who have at least a 2600 FIDE (International Chess Federation)
rating; there were just 15 such players on the first official rating
list in 1971 but by 1991 there were 33 and by 2004 a 2600 rating was not
enough to earn a top 100 spot in the world rankings. Chess ratings are
affected by the composition of the entire pool of players (it is easier
to gain points when there are more players who have high ratings), while
pro basketball point totals are affected not just by skill but also by
rules changes, style of play changes, training advances that have
extended careers and other factors.
In 1977, even the 20,000 point club was very exclusive, including only (in addition to Chamberlain, Robertson, West, and Havlicek) Elgin Baylor (23,149 points), Hal Greer (21,586 points), Walt Bellamy (20,941 points), and Bob Pettit (20,880 points).
Although the 25,000 point club is less exclusive than it used to be, tallying 25,000 points is still a milestone accomplishment: if a player averages 25 ppg and plays in 80 games per season for 12 years, he will be 1000 points short of 25,000, so it is obvious that all of the 25,000 point scorers combined high level production with durability.
Westbrook has won two scoring titles (2015, 2017), but he made his mark as an all-around player who is an elite scorer, rebounder, and passer. He and LeBron James are the only players in pro basketball history to have at least 25,000 career points, at least 9000 career assists, and at least 8000 career rebounds. Westbrook led the NBA in assists three times (2018-19, 2021), he became pro basketball's career triple doubles leader in 2021--breaking Oscar Robertson's record of 181--and he currently has 198 career triple doubles. Nikola Jokic ranks second among active players with 120, trailing only Westbrook, Robertson, and Magic Johnson (138). LeBron James (110) and Jason Kidd (107) are the only other players who amassed at least 100 career triple doubles.
It is baffling and inexcusable that so many media members use any excuse to bash Westbrook. Not only is Westbrook one of the most talented and accomplished players of all-time, but he also embodies all of the best values of a professional athlete: He shows up for every game, he plays hard, he accepts whatever his role is, and he is a great teammate. Westbrook has played in all 48 of the L.A. Clippers' games this season, and he has enthusiastically accepted a bench role that would cause many players of his status--and even players of a lesser status--to complain and sulk.
Westbrook's critics remind me of a line from the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer; the chess prodigy's father in the movie notes that his son is better at playing chess than most people will be at anything they do. Russell Westbrook is better at playing basketball than most people will be at anything, and that goes double for many of the credential-wearing people who pose as journalists. The way that the L.A. Lakers and LeBron James' media sycophants treated Westbrook during Westbrook's brief time with the Lakers was despicable, and it is noteworthy that the legendary Hubie Brown stood out from the crowd by praising Westbrook.
It is fitting that with Westbrook playing a key role the Clippers are now fighting for the number one seed in the Western Conference while the Lakers--who supposedly improved themselves by trading Westbrook last season--are struggling to qualify for the Play-In Tournament. The Lakers made a fluky run to the Western Conference Finals last year, but--as happened with other teams that made fluky playoff runs, including Portland (2019 Western Conference Finals) and Atlanta (2021 Eastern Conference Finals)--the Lakers are now showing their true level in terms of defense and professionalism; Westbrook was not causing the Lakers' problems, and getting rid of him did not solve their problems.
Assessing Carmelo Anthony's Current Level of Play and his Overall Legacy
Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points on Saturday during Portland's 125-121 victory over Minnesota, and he moved past Hakeem Olajuwon into 13th place on the ABA/NBA career regular season scoring list. Anthony added 14 more points to his career total yesterday as Portland lost the rematch with Minnesota, 114-112, and he has now scored 26,971 career regular season points. Minnesota has the worst record in the league (9-30), so a 1-1 split is not great for Portland, a team that has aspirations to make noise in the playoffs.
Often, after a player reaches a statistical milestone one can expect the media to (1) ignore ABA statistics/ABA players and (2) get caught up in the moment and exaggerate the greatness of the player who reached the milestone.
I have yet to see, read, or hear any coverage about Anthony that mentions the ABA players who remain ahead of him on the all-time scoring list. Three of the top 11 scorers in pro basketball history (Julius Erving, 30,026 points, eighth all-time; Moses Malone, 29,580 points, ninth all-time; Dan Issel, 27,482 points, 11th all-time) played in the ABA, all three of those players are in the Hall of Fame, and two of those players (Erving and Malone) are on the NBA's official 50 Greatest Players List. Erving, Malone, and Issel remain ahead of Anthony on the career scoring list, but the NBA and its media partners pretend that the ABA did not exist and do not officially count the statistics posted by ABA players (just to clarify, Malone officially remains ahead of Anthony even without counting his ABA numbers, which is why Anthony is being touted as the 11th leading scorer now, with Erving and Issel being ignored).
In contrast, the NFL does not pretend that Joe Namath's AFL numbers and accomplishments do not exist; in fact, the league embraces his legacy as the first quarterback to lead an AFL team to a Super Bowl win against an NFL team. The NBA's Orwellian preference to stuff the ABA down the proverbial memory hole is baffling and wrong.
Anthony's career nearly came to an ignominious end after the Houston Rockets released him early in the 2018-19 season. Anthony did not play again in the NBA until nearly midway through the 2019-20 season, when Portland signed him. Since Anthony came back, we have been fed a narrative about the injustice that supposedly was done to Anthony and about how Anthony has revitalized his career. As is often the case, reality differs significantly from the narrative that we are being fed.
Even during his prime, Anthony did not have an impact on winning commensurate with his reputation. He was a big-time scorer--2013 scoring champion, 14 straight seasons averaging at least 20 ppg--who was not consistently efficient, who was not a great leader, and who was not a great rebounder, passer, or defensive player. Anthony was a productive scorer and he was not afraid to take pressure shots, so he spent most of his career as his team's number one option. After his skills began to decline, his coaches sought to reduce his role or possibly even use him as a sixth man. Anthony publicly mocked the notion that he would be a sixth man, so he had the same fate as other former All-Stars who did not realistically appraise their current capabilities: he ended up out of the league. To Anthony's credit, after a year of being out of the league, he changed his mentality and accepted that in order to return to the NBA he would have to be a third or fourth option and very probably come off of the bench, which is his current role in Portland. The teams that released Anthony were not wrong; Anthony was wrong, but now that he has adopted a more realistic mindset he is able to be a role player.
How well is Anthony playing? If you just listen to the media commentary, you might think that he is having a great season and that he is possibly even a Sixth Man Award candidate (an NBA Radio host said as much this weekend). This season Anthony is averaging 14.2 ppg while shooting .415 from the field (the third worst field goal percentage of his career), including .382 from three point range (better than his career mark of .350). That scoring average is the lowest of Anthony's career (not counting his 10 game "season" before Houston cut him in 2018-19, when he averaged 13.4 ppg). He is averaging a career-low 3.4 rpg and that number is not just a result of reduced minutes; he is averaging a career low in terms of rebounds per minute as well. Anthony's plus/minus number is -2.4. Portland is being outscored by .5 ppg overall, so the team loses ground with Anthony on the court. If you prefer "advanced basketball statistics," this season Anthony has a -1.7 Box Plus/Minus number, ranking sixth on the team. Unless Anthony improves, this would be the fourth straight season that Anthony posts a negative number in this statistic, after posting a negative Box Plus/Minus number only once in his first 14 seasons.
I do not rely on plus/minus or Box Plus/Minus, but I am citing those numbers to supplement what the eye test reveals to anyone who has watched Anthony with understanding this year. An accurate and unbiased scouting report of Anthony would state that he remains a one dimensional player, a scorer who contributes very little as a rebounder, passer, or defensive player. Anthony does not have the explosive first step that he displayed during his prime. His three point shooting is a little better than it was during his prime. He is still capable of scoring in the post, but he does so less efficiently that he did during his best seasons.
Anthony is a solid bench player, albeit a bench player with a resume that will likely eventually take him to the Hall of Fame. He has not revived his career so much as he has accepted his limitations and filled the sixth man role without public complaint. He is not the best sixth man in the league, but he is a decent sixth man who--like many other sixth men--is capable of scoring 20-plus points on a given night. If Anthony had accepted his current role three years ago after his skills had fallen off, he would have not bounced around until he ended up out of the league.
Media members who I respect--most notably, Frank Isola--say that Anthony is a classy person who is always gracious to them. Perhaps that is why Anthony receives so much favorable coverage as his career winds down. I wish Anthony well and it is nice to see him accept his limitations, but appreciating his career and appreciating what he is doing now does not require us to exaggerate his overall accomplishments or his current level of play.
Rest in Peace William "Bird" Averitt, 1973 NCAA Scoring Champion and 1975 ABA Champion
William "Bird" Averitt, who led the NCAA in scoring before becoming a key contributor for the 1975 ABA Champion Kentucky Colonels, passed away on Saturday December 12 at the age of 68. A 1995 car accident left Averitt partially paralyzed, and he battled a variety of health problems during the past 25 years.
Averitt was nicknamed Bird because of his slight build (6-1, 170 pounds). He was a Kentucky high school star before going to Providence in 1970. At that time, freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition. As a sophomore, Averitt broke the school's single season scoring record by averaging 28.9 ppg, and then as a junior Averitt scored 33.9 ppg to lead the nation in scoring while winning the West Coast Conference Player of the Year award. Averitt averaged 31.4 ppg in his two varsity seasons at Pepperdine, the 11th highest career scoring average in NCAA Division I history at that time. Averitt set West Coast Conference single game, single season, and career scoring records, and he was inducted in the West Coast Conference Hall of Fame in 2017.
He was selected in both the NBA Draft and the ABA Draft, and he began his professional career with the ABA's San Antonio Spurs, averaging 11.5 ppg as a rookie in 1973-74. Averitt was acquired by the Kentucky Colonels, and he averaged 13.1 ppg for Kentucky during the 1974-75 regular season (fourth on the team, trailing Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, and Louie Dampier) and 9.9 ppg during the playoffs. The Colonels won the ABA Championship after defeating the Indiana Pacers--the Boston Celtics of the ABA--four games to one in the ABA Finals in a continuation of the Interstate 65 rivalry between those two proud franchises.
Averitt averaged a career-high 17.9 ppg for the Colonels during the 1975-76 season, the last campaign before the ABA-NBA merger. The Colonels did not join the merged league, and the Buffalo Braves acquired Averitt's rights. Averitt played two NBA seasons, averaging 8.3 ppg.
I never met Averitt, nor did I have the opportunity to interview him, but I know that he was a beloved and respected person and player throughout the ABA family--and the ABA players most definitely formed a family in an enduring way seldom seen in professional sports.
Carmelo Anthony is the 25th Member of the 25,000 Point Club
The 25,000 point club welcomed its 25th member on Saturday night, as Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points during Oklahoma City's 121-108 win against Detroit to lift his career total to 25,004. Inexplicably, the NBA only officially recognizes 21 members of the club, as the ABA statistics of Julius Erving (30,026 points; eighth all-time), Moses Malone (29,580 points; ninth all-time), Dan Issel (27,482 points, 11th all-time) and Rick Barry (25,279; tied for 22nd all-time) are not counted.
Scoring 25,000 points is a significant milestone; every player who reached that total prior to Anthony is either already a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame or is a lock to be inducted upon becoming eligible. Think about that number: it takes elite scoring ability to average 25 points per game and it requires durability to play in 80 or more games--but even if you meet both of those standards for 12 straight seasons you still will be 1000 points short of 25,000!
Anthony's career scoring average is 24.4 ppg, which ranks 13th among the 25,000 point club members. Anthony will likely finish his playing days with a lower scoring average than that, as he has accepted the role of third option with the Thunder after being the number one option during his entire career. Anthony has well-documented limitations in terms of his all-around game and in terms of being a leader but there is no questioning his ability to put the ball in the basket--and if he continues to be willing to sacrifice individual glory to make the Thunder a better team then perhaps he can add the final piece to his resume: a championship ring.
LeBron James Becomes 24th--and Youngest--Member of the 25,000 Point Club
On Monday night, LeBron James became just the 24th member of pro basketball's 25,000 point club. At 30 years, 307 days, he is easily the youngest player to achieve this milestone, surpassing Kobe Bryant's record (31 years, 351 days). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who broke Wilt Chamberlain's once seemingly untouchable mark of 31,419 points in 1984, ranks number one with 38,387 points but his 30-plus year reign as king of the all-time scorers may be in jeopardy in six or seven years if James stays healthy.
Shamefully, the NBA still ignores ABA statistics and pretends that Julius Erving, Dan Issel, George Gervin and Rick Barry--four Hall of Famers who played in both the ABA and the NBA--did not join the 25,000 point club. As long as the NBA sends that quartet's names down some Orwellian memory hole, I will make a point of mentioning those names every time I write an article about the 25,000 point club.
James' accomplishment brings to mind the way that he is often called a "pass first" player. I have never bought into that description because, among other things, Pass First Players Do Not Score 61 Points in a Game. As I have explained many times, James is a prodigious scorer who is also a gifted passer. Why does it matter to make a distinction between being pass-first and being a great scorer who also passes well? It is important to realize that despite all of James' skills, he did not win a championship until he embraced the challenge and responsibility of being a big-time scorer when the stakes are highest; ignoring that truth is a major distortion of basketball history and permits people to create some kind of false dichotomy between James and players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant who are celebrated for their scoring prowess (and often not given proper recognition for their playmaking skills).
During his first stint in Cleveland and during the early part of his run in Miami, James would score a lot of points during the regular season and early playoff rounds only to become bizarrely passive the deeper that he advanced in the playoffs, including no-show efforts versus Boston in the 2010 playoffs and versus Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals. After the latter debacle, when James was outplayed at critical times by Jason Terry, Dwyane Wade implored James to accept the responsibility of carrying a heavy scoring load against elite teams. The strange thing about this is that James has the fourth highest regular season scoring average and fifth highest playoff scoring average in pro basketball history; he has spent his whole career being a dominant scorer, so it is mystifying that he mentally checked himself out of the aforementioned Boston and Dallas series. Those playoff failures did not represent James being a pass-first player; they represented him carrying his teams to the playoffs by scoring a lot of points only to let his teammates down by playing passively precisely when his scoring was needed the most. Presumably, after scoring at a high rate in the 2012 and 2013 NBA Finals while leading Miami to back to back titles, James put all of that pass-first nonsense to rest forever during last year's NBA Finals, when he very properly jacked up shots at a rate that would make even Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant blush; the short-handed Cavaliers needed for James to shoot early and often and perhaps they could have even stolen the title if James had taken more shots during the pivotal game four when the Cavaliers were trying to seize a 3-1 lead over the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.
Correctly labeling James as one of the greatest scorers in pro basketball history does not in any way diminish his other skills, including passing. It does place his career and the careers of other great players in proper perspective, though. Magic Johnson was a pass-first player for the vast majority of his career and he only assumed a score-first role after Abdul-Jabbar was well past his prime. Jason Kidd was always a pass-first player. James, on the other hand, is going to lead his team in scoring and in shot attempts every year until his body breaks down. When James arrived in Miami, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had to accept lesser scoring roles, not the other way around. The same thing has held true for Kevin Love when he joined forces with James in Cleveland. Yes, James passes the ball to his teammates but he also makes sure that he is the team's leading scorer--and there is nothing wrong with that, just like there was nothing wrong with Jordan or Bryant filling a similar role during their respective primes. Other than Magic Johnson, there have not been many pass-first players who were the best player on a championship team. On the other hand, Abdul-Jabbar won six championships, Jordan won six championships and Bryant has won five championships. Erving won two ABA titles plus an NBA title and Barry put on tremendous scoring exhibitions in the 1967 and 1975 NBA Finals, leading the Warriors to the title 40 years ago.
The bottom line is that there are some very good passers in the 25,000 point club but there are no pass-first players in that elite fraternity--and that includes James. Maybe if James sticks around long enough to surpass Abdul-Jabbar as the sport's all-time leading scorer people will finally understand and accept this.
1973 ABA All-Star Game Highlights Showcase Warren Jabali's MVP Performance
Warren Jabali won numerous honors during his ABA career, including the 1969 Rookie of the Year award, the 1969 Playoff MVP and selection to the 1973 All-ABA First Team. The 1973 ABA All-Star Game featured Hall of Famers Julius Erving, Billy Cunningham, Artis Gilmore, Mel Daniels and Dan Issel but Jabali earned All-Star MVP honors after leading the West to a come from behind 123-111 win. This video provides a cool recap of that game; Jabali's key contributions are depicted from the 11:07 to 11:50 marks:
Hat tip to Scott Schneider for sharing this video with me.
Dirk Nowitzki Becomes Just the Third Active Member of the Exclusive 25,000 Point Club
Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points on Sunday in the Dallas Mavericks' 107-89 win against the New Orleans Hornets and he joined Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett as the only active members of the 25,000 point club.
Most if not all mainstream media accounts of this accomplishment will state that only 17 players have scored at least 25,000 points, neglecting to mention that Julius Erving, Dan Issel, George Gervin and Rick Barry surpassed that total if their ABA statistics are included-- and it is an inexplicable travesty that the NBA and its media partners stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that ABA Numbers Should Also Count.
Nowitzki already had accumulated more than 9000 career rebounds--an impressive total for anyone but a particularly impressive total for a jump shooter who seemed averse to physical contact when he first entered the league--and now he is one of just 11 players who racked up at least 25,000 points and at least 9000 rebounds; Erving and Issel are not officially acknowledged by the NBA as members of that club.
Congratulations to Dirk Nowitzki and shame on the NBA for throwing ABA statistics down an Orwellian memory hole.
Kevin Garnett is the 20th Member of the 25,000 Point Club
Kevin Garnett scored 15 points in the Boston Celtics' 116-95 win over the L.A. Lakers on Thursday night and he became just the 20th member of pro basketball's 25,000 point club. Here is the complete 25,000 point club roster:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Michael Jordan 32,292
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419
Kobe Bryant 30,861
Julius Erving 30,026
Moses Malone 29,580
Shaquille O'Neal 28,596
Dan Issel 27,482
Elvin Hayes 27,313
Hakeem Olajuwon 26,946
Oscar Robertson 26,710
Dominique Wilkins 26,668
George Gervin 26,595
John Havlicek 26,395
Alex English 25,613
Rick Barry 25,279
Reggie Miller 25,279
Jerry West 25,192
Kevin Garnett 25,009
Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Dan Issel, George Gervin and Rick Barry spent part of their careers in the ABA and Malone is the only member of that quintet who scored at least 25,000 points in the NBA, so the NBA and most mainstream media outlets pretend that Erving, Issel, Gervin and Barry are not in fact members of the 25,000 point club; thus, most reports about Garnett's accomplishment erroneously state that he is the 16th member of the 25,000 point club.
Erving and Garnett are the only members of the 25,000 point club who each amassed at least 10,000 rebounds, 5000 assists, 1500 steals and 1500 blocked shots. Steals and blocked shots were not recorded during Erving's rookie season, so Erving's "official" totals of 2272 steals (the ABA/NBA career record when he retired in 1987 and still good enough for seventh place now) and 1941 blocked shots (sixth on the ABA/NBA career list when he retired and 22nd now, just behind Garnett) most likely shortchange him by about 150 in each category. Erving and Garnett displayed a remarkable combination of versatility and longevity to post those all-around numbers while also scoring so prolifically. Erving averaged at least 20 ppg in each of his first 14 seasons before scoring 18.1 ppg and 16.8 ppg in his final two campaigns; Garnett has not been a big-time scorer since he joined the Boston Celtics in 2007-08, so it is easy to forget that he averaged at least 20 ppg and at least 10 rpg for nine straight seasons (1999-2007). Erving averaged 24.2 ppg in his 16 season career with a high average of 31.9 ppg in his second season, while Garnett has averaged 19.2 ppg so far in his 18 season career with a high average of 24.2 ppg in his ninth season.
ABA Numbers Ignored as Lebron James Becomes Youngest Member of 20,000 Point Club
LeBron James scored 25 points on Wednesday night during Miami's 92-75 win over Golden State; early in the game he notched his 5000th career assist and then late in the second quarter he became the youngest member of pro basketball's 20,000 point club, breaking a mark held by Kobe Bryant. James turned 28 less than three weeks ago, while Bryant was 29 years, 122 days old when he scored his 20,000th point. Wilt Chamberlain still holds the likely unbreakable record for reaching 20,000 points in the fewest games--499, a 40.1 ppg average--while James ranks seventh on that list (726 games, a 27.5 ppg average).
Only 42 pro basketball players have scored at least 20,000 points and just 13 of those players also totaled at least 5000 assists. Barring injury, James will likely become the only player ranked in the top five all-time in both departments; there is only one player who currently ranks in the top 15 in both categories: Oscar Robertson ranks sixth in assists (9887) and 12th in scoring (26,710 points), though it should be noted that when Robertson retired he ranked first in assists and second in scoring, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain.
James' dual accomplishments bring two things to mind:
1) James led the Heat in scoring and assists (10) versus Golden State while ranking third in rebounds (seven); James supposedly had to leave Cleveland in order to surround himself with a better supporting cast so that he would not have to single-handedly carry his team but this season James is leading the Heat in minutes, points, rebounds, assists and steals (he is also second on the team in both field goal percentage and blocked shots). This is nothing new; last season, James led the Heat in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage. James is nominally a power forward now but he is essentially a power point guard on offense--albeit one with heavy scoring duties--and he plays several different positions defensively. The difference between James now and James in Cleveland is not that the quality of his supporting cast has lightened his individual burden/responsibility but rather that James has accepted that burden/responsibility instead of shirking it. There is no more dramatic evidence of that difference than the contrast between how James quit versus Boston during the 2010 playoffs--and then quit versus Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals--versus how James dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals. James was justifiably criticized in 2010 and 2011; his 2012 performance deserved all of the praise it received but it did not refute the previous criticism.
2) It is disgraceful that the NBA and its media partners act as if the ABA never existed. ABA numbers should also count and those numbers should be mentioned when a current player reaches an important statistical milestone. Three of the top 10 scorers in pro basketball history--Julius Erving (sixth), Moses Malone (seventh) and Dan Issel (ninth)--played in the ABA, as did George Gervin (14th), Rick Barry (who is tied with Reggie Miller for 17th place on the all-time scoring list) and Artis Gilmore (20th). Gervin and Malone are the only members of that group who scored 20,000 points in the NBA, so at least they are "officially" included in the 20,000 point club roster, but Erving, Issel and Barry are neither mentioned nor counted when media members discuss this topic.
The weird thing about this is that contemporary media accounts acknowledged Erving, Issel and Barry when they scored their milestone points (as demonstrated in the next three links cited in this article); it is baffling and infuriating that the NBA and its current media partners blatantly disregard the sport's history.
Here is the rest of the story, the information about the three members of the 20,000 point club that the NBA, NBA.com, ESPN and TNT have thrown down Orwell's "memory hole."
Rick Barry became just the ninth member of the 20,000 point club early in the 1976-77 season. Barry is the only player to win a scoring title in the NBA and the ABA. He fell just 48 assists short of joining the 20,000 point/5000 assist club. On November 12, 1980, Issel--who entered pro basketball one season earlier than Erving--became the 12th member of the 20,000 point club. Erving was a month shy of his 31st birthday when he became the 13th
member of the 20,000 point club on January 15, 1981 in the 766th game
of his career (26.1 ppg average, which then ranked as the sixth highest
career scoring average in pro basketball history). At that time, Erving was
the fifth youngest player to achieve the milestone. Erving later joined the exclusive 25,000/5000/5000 Club and in the second to last game of his career he became just the third player--and the first "midsize" player--to score more than 30,000 points.
These accomplishments should be celebrated by the NBA and Erving, Issel and Barry should be included in the "official" 20,000 point club roster--but the very people who have a responsibility to preserve and cherish the sport's history instead present a distorted, incomplete version of that history.
Julius Erving's Playoff Career, Part II: Two Championships in Three Years with the Nets
"That was the time when I had the most fun playing basketball. Between age 21 and age 26, I genuinely was empowered with this ability to do anything that I wanted to do on a basketball court and anything that I had ever dreamed of doing."--Julius Erving, describing his ABA career
This series of articles focuses on Julius Erving's playoff career but the 1973 offseason and 1973-74 regular season significantly impacted not just Erving but the status of the ABA itself and thus what happened during that period must be described in order to place Erving's overall career in proper context. By the end of the 1972-73 season, the Virginia Squires had two future Hall of Famers on their roster--Julius Erving and George Gervin--but the cash-strapped franchise did not have the financial resources to retain the services of either player. Erving, dissatisfied with the terms of his original contract with the Squires, tried to jump to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks after his 1971-72 rookie campaign but a court ruling forced him to play for the Squires in 1972-73. The Squires realized that they could not keep Erving for the long term, so in the summer of 1973 they traded him to the New York Nets with Willie Sojourner for George Carter and $1 million cash. Nets' owner Roy Boe also compensated the Hawks. Several years later and after much legal wrangling, the Milwaukee Bucks (the team that owned Erving's NBA rights by virtue of selecting him in the 1972 NBA Draft) received two draft picks plus cash from the Hawks. Gervin started the 1972-73 season with the Squires and made the All-Star team for the first time but the Squires then traded him to the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs soon shifted Gervin from forward to guard and he won four scoring titles after the ABA-NBA merger, setting a record for guards that lasted until Michael Jordan captured 10 scoring crowns.
It was a coup for the ABA that Erving not only stayed in the younger league but that he ended up in New York; the ABA was starving for more media coverage and now arguably the sport's best player had arrived on a huge stage after spending two years in Virginia. Steve Jones, three-time ABA All-Star and respected pro basketball
analyst, told Terry Pluto (as quoted on p. 319 of Pluto's 1990 book Loose Balls), "When a player as gifted as Julius takes the court, he believes that he has no limitations. He can try any move because he can make any shot. I guarded Julius when he was in that stage of his career; it wasn't much fun. If you put him in historical perspective, the only other player in
the same class is Michael Jordan. Michael has a much better jumper than
Julius but, believe it or not, Julius played much higher above the rim
and was a far better rebounder than Michael. It would be fun to see a
young Erving play a young Jordan just to see how it came out, because
those two guys are players who have no limits." With Erving in New York, the Nets in particular and the ABA in general had to be taken a lot more seriously. Erving denied feeling any extra pressure because of the size of his contract or the attention he would receive in the world's biggest media market: "I put the most pressure on myself because of my ambitions to be the best basketball player ever,"
Erving said. "What happens around me can't put any more pressure on me
than that."
The Nets started out 4-1 in the 1973-74 season before losing nine in a row and falling into last place. Kevin Loughery, who replaced Lou Carnesecca on the Nets' bench prior to the season after Carnesecca returned to St. John's University, initially wanted to use a full court pressing and trapping defensive scheme that took advantage of the athleticism of Erving and other New York players--but the system relied too much on Erving playing like Superman and Erving was feeling all too mortal due to the tendinitis afflicting his knees, the first time he had experienced such a problem. Loughery quickly realized his mistake, as recounted in this quote from Marty Bell's The Legend of Dr. J: "My original concept seemed perfectly suited to the Doctor. He plays so hard, so fast. But no one could play that way for 84 games. By the third week of the season I had run him into the ground. I was in the process of destroying the best player on my team, maybe in the game" (pp. 94-95 of the 1981 updated and expanded Signet version of Bell's classic book, the best Erving biography). Loughery called a team meeting and admitted that his coaching errors had cost the team. He tweaked the defense--reverting to a sagging man to man with zone principles that enabled Erving to freelance but did not require Erving to wear himself out--and devised ways to get Erving the ball on the move so that Erving did not have to create so much offense one on one against a set defense. Loughery also inserted muscular rookie guard John Williamson into the starting lineup. The Nets lost 107-105 at San Diego but then they won 19 of their next 22 games.
Erving's quiet, thoughtful leadership played a big role in the team's success. Erving said, "The reputation of the Nets last year was that if you got up on them early they'd start squabbling among themselves. They were losers. From the minute I knew I was coming here I was preparing myself to stop that from happening again. I knew I'd have leadership responsibilities, not as the designated leader--that's the role of the team captain, Bill Melchionni--but on a different basis. There has to be criticism among players on a team, but I guess what I've tried to do is make it constructive and cut down on meaningless griping at each other. I don't think you should cuss at a guy for missing a pass. You should boost him up by saying something like, 'It's all right. We'll get it next time.'"
In 1973-74, Erving's scoring average dropped from 31.9 ppg to 27.4 ppg but he won his second consecutive scoring title while also ranking third in blocked shots (2.4 bpg), third in steals (2.3 spg), sixth in assists (5.2 apg), seventh in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and ninth in two point field goal percentage (.515). Erving made the All-ABA First Team for the second year in a row and won the first of three straight regular season MVP awards. He played a major role in the Nets' improvement from 30-54 to 55-29, the best record in the league; the Nets accomplished this despite having the youngest starting lineup in pro basketball (average age of 22.6 years old, according to the January 14, 1974 Sports Illustrated).
In the first round of the playoffs, the Nets faced the Squires, who fell to 28-56 without Erving and Gervin but still qualified for the playoffs as eight of the 10 ABA teams participated in postseason competition. Erving battled foul trouble but still scored a game-high 24 points as New York beat Virginia 108-96 in game one. He also had nine rebounds and a game-high 12 assists. Virginia guard Roland "Fatty" Taylor was ejected at the 6:13 mark of the first quarter after hitting John Williamson with two forearm shots to the back of the head; Taylor claimed that Williamson had elbowed him first. Virginia Coach Al Bianchi was ejected in the third quarter.
Erving scored a game-high 35 points while also contributing six rebounds and five assists as the Nets cruised to a 129-110 victory to take a 2-0 series lead. The Squires cut the margin to 2-1 with a 116-115 win at home after Erving missed a last second shot and Mike Gale failed to convert a putback attempt at the buzzer. Jim Eakins scored a game-high 31 points for the Squires, while Erving led the Nets with 29 points in addition to pulling down 12 rebounds and passing for three assists.
Rookie forward Larry Kenon scored a game-high 25 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds while Erving and Williamson added 21 points each as the Nets blew out the Squires 116-88 to take a 3-1 series lead. Erving added nine rebounds and tied Gale for team-high honors with five assists. Kenon led the Nets in scoring in game five with 22 points and Erving contributed 21 points, six rebounds and five assists (tying second year guard Brian Taylor for the team lead) as New York advanced to the second round with a 108-96 win. Erving averaged 26.0 ppg against Virginia, his lowest scoring average in the first four playoff series of his career.
In the Eastern Division Finals, the Nets faced a much bigger challenge: a Kentucky team that posted the second best record in the league (53-31) thanks largely to the efforts of two future Hall of Fame big men, Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel. Erving scored a game-high 35 points and had eight rebounds as the Nets beat the Colonels 119-106 in game one. The Nets only led 52-51 at halftime but Erving scored 13 third quarter points as the Nets widened the margin to 90-75. Kenon added 20 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, while Issel scored 22 points and Gilmore contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Erving scored a game-high 27 points and had six rebounds as New York cruised to a 99-80 game two victory. Reserve forward Wendell Ladner, who the Nets acquired from Kentucky in a midseason trade, contributed 15 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and five steals in just 29 minutes.
The Nets took command of the series in game three with an 89-87 win. Erving scored a game-high 30 points and he also grabbed 14 rebounds. New York held Kentucky scoreless for more than six minutes in the fourth
quarter. Issel led the Colonels with 26 points, while Gilmore
contributed 15 points, 27 rebounds and five blocked shots. Erving scored eight of New York's final 12 points, including a dunk that gave the Nets their first lead of the game (83-81) and a 20 foot game-winning jumper at the buzzer. Terry Pluto's Loose Balls contains a quote (p. 284) from Dave Vance about Erving's game-winning shot:
I was the GM of the Colonels when Julius made that shot, and Kevin tells a great story about what went on in that huddle.
When
they called time-out with 15 seconds left, Kevin went down on his knee
and started to draw up a play. He didn't get very far when this huge
hand landed on his shoulder.
"Kevin," said Julius. "I'll take the last shot."
Kevin said he got chills when he heard Doc say that. It was almost like the voice of God.
So Kevin said, "Okay, guys, if Doc misses--"
The hand came back on Kevin's shoulder and Julius said, "Kevin, I won't miss."
That just stopped Kevin. Finally, he said, "Okay, let's get Doc the ball and let's go."
I can still see Julius floating to the right in the air, the shot leaving his hand, and he just ran right into the dressing room after he let it go. Julius knew it was in and he knew he had won the game.
Erving capped off a great series by once again leading both teams in scoring, dropping in 27 points on 13-22 field goal shooting and controlling eight rebounds as the Nets won 103-90 to complete the sweep and advance to the ABA Finals. Erving scored 19 first half points as the Nets built a 64-49 halftime lead before cruising to victory. Kentucky Coach Babe McCarthy said, "Now I think the Nets are the best team I've seen in the ABA. You can talk about their inexperience but Julius Erving has three years of it and he rises to the occasion." Erving averaged 29.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 3.0 apg in his second "Final Four" appearance in three professional seasons.
Basketball Hall of Famer Adolph Rupp, who had recently retired as the coach at the University of Kentucky and who served as Vice President of the Board for the Kentucky Colonels, was very impressed by Erving: "Up until now I always thought that Jerry West was the greatest basketball player I ever saw, with Oscar Robertson right behind him, but I think right now that Julius Erving is the best." Rupp also
called Erving "the Babe Ruth of basketball."
The Utah Stars defeated the two-time defending ABA champion Indiana Pacers in seven games in the Western Division Finals to earn the right to face the Nets. The Stars led the ABA in two point field goal percentage (.493) and free throw percentage (.789) in the 1973-74 season. Utah's lineup included three 1974 ABA All-Stars: All-Defensive Team forward Willie Wise plus guards Ron Boone and James Jones. Jones made the 1974 All-ABA First Team, ranking second in the league in two point field goal shooting during the regular season (.551). Jones led the ABA in playoff two point field goal percentage with a blistering .581 mark, a sensational figure for a guard. He ranked fifth in the league in assists during the regular season (5.2 apg) and he improved to third during the playoffs (5.4 apg). Boone and Wise each received All-ABA Second Team honors. Zelmo Beaty, a two-time NBA All-Star who earned three straight ABA
All-Star selections as well (1971-73), was hampered by some injuries but
still averaged 13.4 ppg and 8.0 rpg during the regular season. Former ABA All-Star (1970) Gerald Govan led the team in rebounding (8.8 rpg) during the regular season and he ranked fourth in the ABA in playoff rebounding (13.7 rpg). The Utah Stars had a lot of talent and versatility; Wise may have been the best defensive forward in pro basketball at that time and the Boone-Jones duo comprised one of the top backcourts in either league. Utah went 51-33 in the regular season, the best record in the Western Division and the third best record in the league behind New York and Kentucky.
It is important to understand just how good the Stars were in order to fully appreciate what Erving and the Nets accomplished in the 1974 ABA Finals. In game one, Erving scored 47 points on 19-29 field goal shooting while also contributing 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one blocked shot as the Nets beat the Stars 89-85. Erving made 13 straight shots from the field and he scored 12, 14 and 15 points respectively in the first three quarters, mounting a serious challenge to the ABA single game playoff scoring record (53 points, a mark Erving already shared with Roger Brown). Kenon, the only other Net to score in double figures, came up big with 18 points and a game-high 20 rebounds, including nine offensive rebounds. Jones led Utah with 25 points; he made six shots in a row but late in the game the Nets shut him down by switching Erving on to him defensively. Beaty did not play due to a groin injury but the Stars still had four players score at least 12 points.
The Stars came out fighting in game two--literally: less than a minute after the opening tip, Boone decked Taylor, who got up off the ground and punched Boone in the face. Pro basketball was a much rougher game back then; neither player was ejected or even received a technical foul. The Nets raced to a 61-37 halftime lead en route to a 118-94 victory. Erving scored a game-high 32 points on 12-21 field goal shooting and he had another solid floor game: nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, three blocked shots. Kenon only scored six points but he once again controlled the boards, grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds. Jones and Wise led the Stars with 19 points each.
Beaty returned to action in game three, scoring 22 points and grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds as the Stars outrebounded the Nets for the first time in the series. Utah built a 15 point fourth quarter lead but the Nets stormed back to force overtime after Taylor hit a buzzer beating three pointer to tie the score at 94. Erving and Kenon each scored four points in the overtime as New York won 109-103. Erving led the Nets with 24 points and 13 rebounds and his seven assists trailed teammate Mike Gale by one for game-high honors but Erving also committed six turnovers while shooting just 9-22 from the field and 6-11 from the free throw line. Jones had 28 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Wise not only played strong defense against Erving but he also contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds. Kenon (18 points, 12 rebounds) and center Billy Paultz (17 points, 12 rebounds) were two of the six Nets who scored in double figures.
The Stars avoided the sweep with a 97-89 game four win. Jones scored a game-high 24 points, Boone added 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Beaty scored all 18 of his points in the second half, Govan grabbed a game-high 23 rebounds and Wise did an excellent job defensively against Erving while also contributing 19 points. The Stars again won the rebounding battle. Erving finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Williamson and Taylor scored 17 points each. Erving shot 9-20 from the field. How unusual is it that Wise held Erving to fewer than 20 points on .450 field goal shooting? Erving eventually played a total of 33 Finals games (11 in the ABA, 22 in the NBA) and he scored at least 20 points in 31 of those games, including a streak of 26 straight 20 point games that is second in ABA/NBA Finals history to Michael Jordan's 35 game streak. Erving shot at least .500 from the field in five of his six trips to the Finals, falling short only in 1983 when he shot .469 as a 33 year old during Philadelphia's 4-0 sweep of the L.A. Lakers.
Wise scored a game-high 34 points, grabbed eight rebounds and passed for six assists while playing all 48 minutes in game five but the Nets pulled away in the fourth quarter, claiming their first ABA title with a 111-100 win. The Nets owned the boards 54-34 as Kenon led the Nets with 23 points plus 11 rebounds and Paultz scored 21 points while grabbing 12 rebounds; Erving had a quiet night offensively by his standards (20 points on 8-18 field goal shooting, four assists) but, like all great players, he found another way to make his impact felt: Erving hauled in a game-high 16 rebounds, his best rebounding performance of the 1974 playoffs. Erving felt that his individual performance in game five "was not
complete. But we won and that's what's important." Erving explained, "I
still have lots of room for improvement. The main thing I want to do is
maintain consistency. That's what I'm striving for. I don't think I'll
ever run any faster, jump any higher or shoot any better. And I don't
think my defense needs much improvement. I think I can block shots as
well as anyone in the league. But it's maintaining consistency, under
pressure, that is most important to me."
Erving averaged 28.2 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg and 1.4 rpg during the Finals, shooting .518 from two point range, .333 (1-3) from three point range and .750 from the free throw line. Erving led the ABA in playoff scoring (27.9 ppg) for the third time in
his three year career. He also ranked fourth in blocked shots (19),
fourth in three point field goal percentage (.455), fifth in two point
field goal percentage (.531), fifth in assists (4.8 apg), eighth in
steals (22) and 12th in rebounding (9.6 rpg), earning the 1974 ABA Playoff MVP award.
Utah Coach Joe Mullaney was very impressed by Erving: "He's just a fantastic player. He's exceptionally gifted. He's spectacular. He has a unique talent. He has that real long body, a soft touch on his shots, amazing physical equipment and he's so unselfish, something you rarely see in a player of his caliber."
Stars' General Manager Arnie Ferrin--who played for three seasons in the BAA and the NBA in the late 1940s/early 1950s--said of Erving, "He's as good a basketball player as I've ever seen. Obviously, he's the best forward in the game. We used to debate quite frequently at home whether Bob Cousy or George Mikan was the best player in the game. But now the game has changed drastically. You have to ask yourself--if you were inheriting a pro franchise--would you rather have the best forward, center or guard in the game. There is no better forward than Julius."
Wise lavishly praised his adversary, saying that it was a "beautiful feeling" being on the court with Erving and adding, "He's basketball at it's best."
Erving appreciated all of the compliments but declined to compare himself to the legends who preceded him: "When my career is all over, then they can judge me. Then it will mean something." Erving said that he planned to play for seven more seasons. "That would give me 10 seasons. I'll be 31 then. I don't want to play as long as Oscar Robertson, Jerry West or Wilt Chamberlain. I want to play as long as I can be a positive factor. Then I'll hang it up." It is interesting that one can find similar quotes from other great players, including Michael Jordan--who was just starting his career when a 37 year old Erving was playing his final season--and Kobe Bryant. Jordan swore that he would not stick around as long as Erving did and Bryant has recently said that he will probably retire when his current contract is through. The reality is that if a player is healthy enough to extend his career then the love of the game combined with the inevitable increases in player salaries make it very difficult to walk away from the sport.
The 1973-74 Nets are one of the most underrated teams in pro basketball history; they went 22-3 down the stretch--10-1 to finish the regular season and 12-2 in the playoffs. The Nets tied the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks' pro basketball record for best
playoff winning percentage (.857), a mark that stood until Erving's 1983
Philadelphia 76ers went 12-1 (.923); thanks in part to an expanded
playoff format, the 2001 Lakers currently hold the record after going
15-1 (.938).
After the playoffs ended, Erving did not participate in the Rucker
League during the summer of 1974 in order to rest his knees and enable
the tendinitis to settle down; he also made weekly visits to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, where he received treatment with "an electro galvanic stimulator and cybex isokinetic exercisers" (p. 152, Legend of Dr. J). With Erving presumably rejuvenated and the 26 year old Paultz being the Nets' oldest starter, it seemed like the young Nets were creating a dynasty but the 1974-75 season provided a rude awakening to anyone who assumed that the Nets would just roll to a second straight title. Erving's knees began bothering him early in the season and it also soon became apparent that the Nets were not as unified or efficient as they had been in 1973-74.
Meanwhile, an already strong Kentucky team had become even more powerful under the direction of a new coach, former Milwaukee Bucks' assistant Hubie Brown, who later won two NBA Coach of the Year awards in addition to becoming arguably the sport's best TV analyst. New York and Kentucky traded the Eastern Division lead for most of the season before the Colonels won their final nine regular season games. The Nets won their last three games but prior to that they lost four in a row to let Kentucky back in the race.
Kentucky and New York each finished the season with 58-26 records, so on April 4 the teams faced off in a one game playoff at Kentucky for the Eastern Division title. Artis Gilmore dominated with 28 points, 33 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots in a 108-99 Kentucky win; he single-handedly outrebounded the Nets and the Colonels enjoyed a 56-30 advantage on the boards overall. Erving scored a game-high 34 points on 12-23 field goal shooting while also contributing six rebounds and four assists. The boxscore for that game appears in the 1975-76 ABA Guide but the individual player statistics were not included in either the regular season or the playoff totals.
Erving increased his scoring average slightly to 27.9 ppg but he finished second in the league behind George McGinnis, who averaged 29.8 ppg. Erving ranked fourth in the league in both steals (2.2 spg) and blocked shots (1.9 bpg), he tied for sixth in three point field goal percentage (.333) and he finished eighth in rebounding (10.9 rpg). He won his second straight regular season MVP, though he shared that award with McGinnis--the only time in ABA or NBA history that two players received that honor; while the media members split their votes between Erving and McGinnis, the Sporting News presented its 1975 ABA Player of the Year award--selected by the ABA players--to Erving alone. Erving set his regular season career scoring high with a 63 point outburst in a 176-166 quadruple overtime loss to San Diego; Erving tied Zelmo Beaty for the second most points scored in an ABA game, falling just four points short of Larry Miller's record.
The Nets faced the Spirits of St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs. New York went 11-0 versus St. Louis during the regular season, so on paper this looked like a great matchup for the Nets. The Nets extended that winning streak to 12 with a 111-105 game one victory. Erving played 47 minutes and led the Nets with 32 points while also grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing off six assists. New York outscored St. Louis 34-24 in the fourth quarter, spoiling a great game by St. Louis rookie Marvin Barnes, who scored a game-high 41 points and had a team-high 12 rebounds. St. Louis fought gallantly in the first game and served notice that the series would be more competitive than most people might have expected but game two produced a stunning result: the Spirits clobbered the Nets 115-97, stealing homecourt advantage. Barnes--who was selected as the ABA's Rookie of the Year prior to the game--poured in a game-high 37 points and he snared 18 rebounds, while fellow rookie Maurice Lucas single-handedly outrebounded the entire Nets team in the first half en route to controlling a game-high 21 rebounds. Lucas also scored 14 points. Dynamic guard Freddie Lewis--a key member of three Indiana Pacers championship teams--played all 48 minutes for St. Louis, contributing 28 points, six rebounds and three assists. Kenon led the Nets with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Erving suffered through the worst game of his ABA career: six points on 3-14 field goal shooting in 29 foul-plagued minutes. Coach Loughery watched the final minutes of the debacle from the locker room after being ejected for receiving his second technical foul; assistant coach Rod Thorn, who took over for Loughery, also received a technical foul during the game, as did Ladner.
Erving's nightmarish game two performance was clearly an aberration but it was equally clear that the young, physical Spirits were not the slightest bit intimidated by the Nets. Erving and Barnes, who did not guard each other during the series, had a shootout in game three: Barnes finished with a game-high 35 points and 14 rebounds in a 113-108 St. Louis win, while Erving had 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Barnes scored nine of his points in the final 4:48, while Erving countered with eight points during that stretch as the Nets tried to erase a 98-86 deficit. Lucas again led both teams in rebounds (18) while also contributing 14 points and Lewis again played all 48 minutes, scoring 30 points and passing for six assists. St. Louis' frontcourt quartet of Barnes, Lucas, Gus Gerard and Don Adams set the tone in the paint with their physical play, while Lewis ran the show from the backcourt.
Game four would be critical, as the Nets could either tie the series and regain homecourt advantage or else fall into a deep 3-1 hole. Everything hung in the balance with the score tied 87-87 and less than five minutes remaining in the game but St. Louis held New York without a field goal the rest of the way and won, 100-89. Erving scored a game-high 35 points on 13-25 field goal shooting and he added eight rebounds and five assists but the other Nets combined to shoot just 24-63 from the field (.381) and St. Louis again dominated the boards (62-44). Barnes led St. Louis with 23 points and 20 rebounds, though he shot just 10-27 from the field. Lucas added 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Lewis scored 19 points as he went the distance for the third straight game.
Back home in New York, the Nets fought very hard to stave off elimination; they led by as many as 16 points but St. Louis staged a furious rally capped off by a Lewis drive that put them up 104-103 with 90 seconds remaining. The Nets went back on top 107-104 after Erving hit a shot with :54 remaining but Lewis cut the margin to 107-106 by making two free throws with :19 left in the fourth quarter. Erving then either lost control of the ball or had it slapped away by Adams and the ball bounced off of Erving's leg before going into the backcourt. That costly turnover gave Lewis the opportunity to close out the series with a game-winning jumper at the three second mark, completing an upset that stunned the Nets and the rest of the basketball world. Erving scored a game-high 34 points and had 12 rebounds and six assists and the Nets even won the rebounding battle 46-38 but they had no answer for Lewis, who led St. Louis with 29 points--including 10 in the final two minutes, capped off by the clutch shot that dethroned the ABA champions. Lewis again played all 48 minutes and he missed just one minute of action in the entire series. Barnes added 17 points and 14 rebounds.
After the game, Erving said, "We've been confused all year. So this is how it
ends: a basket in the last few seconds to put an end to our confusion." Erving averaged 27.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 5.6 apg, 1.8 bpg and 1.0 spg during the series but he shot just .455 from the field, the worst postseason field goal percentage of his career up to that point. Erving failed to lead the league in playoff scoring for the first (and last) time of his ABA career, finishing fourth behind George Gervin (34.0 ppg), George McGinnis (32.3 ppg) and Marvin Barnes (30.8 ppg).
The Nets reacted--or, perhaps, overreacted--to their shocking first round playoff loss by trading away two key members of the 1974 championship team, Larry Kenon and Billy Paultz. The Nets also shipped out reserve guard Mike Gale. All three players landed in San Antonio in two separate trades that brought Swen Nater, Rich Jones, Kim Hughes and Bob Warren to New York. Nater, a two-time ABA All-Star, led the ABA in rebounding in 1974-75 (16.4 rpg; he later would become the only player to lead both the ABA and NBA in rebounding) and the Nets believed that Nater represented a major upgrade over Paultz--but Nater did not fit in with New York's running game and he performed so poorly in the first half of the 1975-76 season that the Nets traded him to Virginia for Jim Eakins. Wendell Ladner, the energetic forward who served as Erving's de facto bodyguard on the court, died in an airplane crash in the summer of 1975. Instead of having the athletic Kenon and the burly Paultz by his side and Ladner available to provide a boost off of the bench, Erving was now surrounded by a frontcourt cast consisting of journeymen centers Eakins and Hughes and journeymen power forwards Jones and Tim Bassett. Meanwhile, Kenon made the All-Star team three times with San Antonio and Paultz performed very well for the Spurs as they blossomed into a contender not just in the ABA's final season but for the next several years after the merger.
New York still had a very good starting backcourt consisting of the powerfully built streak shooter John Williamson and savvy point guard Brian Taylor but, compared to the star-studded squads in Denver and San Antonio, the Nets looked like a one man team; the Nuggets were so powerful that the 1976 ABA All-Star Game pitted their roster against a squad comprised of the best players from the league's remaining teams--and Denver won!
One player cannot single-handedly win a championship in a team sport but a great basketball player can have more of an impact than a great football player or a great baseball player--and Erving had a phenomenal impact in the 1975-76 season. My NBCSports.com article The Ultimate "Five Tool" Players discussed the few players who have led their teams in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots in the same season and explained the significance of Erving's 1975-76 performance:
Julius Erving put up the first--and most impressive--five-tool season. In 1975-76, he led the ABA in scoring (29.3 ppg) and ranked in the top seven or better in the league in each of the other four categories. He also placed eighth in two point field goal percentage and seventh in three point field goal percentage. Erving actually came very close to being a five-tool player in each of the three previous seasons, missing by just .6 apg and .2 spg in 1972-73, .8 rpg in 1973-74 and .6 spg in 1974-75. All of that was just a warm-up for Dr. J's final dramatic operation in the ABA, when he led the New York Nets to the 1976 championship over the Denver Nuggets, topping both teams in all five statistical categories during that series: 37.7 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 6.0 apg, 3.0 spg and 2.2 bpg. Performances like that inspired the two quotes that best summarize Erving's impact on the game: ABA Commissioner Dave DeBusschere once said, "Plenty of guys have been 'The Franchise.' For us, Dr. J is 'The League'"; Pat Williams, the 76ers General Manager who acquired Erving shortly after the 1976 ABA Finals, later said of Erving, "There's never been anyone like him, including Michael. If Julius was in his prime now, in this era of intense electronic media, he would be beyond comprehension. He would blow everybody away."
In 1975-76 Julius Erving had one of the greatest--and most underrated--all-around seasons in pro basketball history; Erving captured his third scoring title while also ranking third in steals (2.5 spg), fifth in rebounding (11.0 rpg), seventh in assists (5.0 apg) and seventh in blocked shots (1.9 bpg). Michael Jordan later received a lot of publicity--and one Defensive Player of the Year award--after notching back to back seasons with 200-plus steals and 100-plus blocked shots but in 1975-76 Erving tallied 207 steals and 160 blocked shots to become the first 200-100 player. Erving, Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players to record at least 200 steals and 100 blocked shots in a season since those numbers have been officially tracked (1972-73 in the ABA, 1973-74 in the NBA); Erving and Olajuwon are the only players who have had both a 200-100 season and a 100-200 season (Erving had 190 steals and 204 blocked shots in 1973-74, narrowly missing becoming the only member of the 200-200 club).
Erving was even more dominant during the playoffs, leading the ABA in playoff scoring (34.7 ppg) for the fourth time in
his five year career while also ranking second in rebounding (12.6 rpg),
third in blocked shots (2.0 bpg), third in steals (1.9 spg) and sixth in
assists (4.9 apg). He shot .533 from the field--the best playoff field goal percentage of his 16 season career--and .804 from the free throw line.
The Denver Nuggets, coached by Hall of Famer Larry Brown and featuring Hall of Fame players David Thompson (the 1976 ABA Rookie of the Year) and Dan Issel, led the ABA with a 60-24 record. Denver's roster also included Bobby Jones--a very good all-around player who inherited the mantle from Willie Wise as the best defensive forward in either league--and perennial All-Star guard Ralph Simpson, who ranked second in the league in assists (7.1 apg) while also averaging 18.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg. New York finished second at 55-29 and San Antonio--boosted by New York imports Kenon and Paultz--went 50-34. Kentucky defeated Indiana in a first round mini-series to earn the right to face Denver in the Semifinal round and the Colonels pushed the Nuggets to seven games before Denver prevailed.
New York battled San Antonio in the other Semifinal matchup--and the teams "battled" in every sense of the word, as the series featured very physical play from both sides and a few altercations as well: one of the newspaper headlines during the series read, "Game and Fight Won by Nets." The Spurs led the ABA in blocked shots mainly thanks to Paultz, who topped the league with a 3.0 bpg average. Paultz also averaged 16.5 ppg and 10.4 rpg, while Kenon contributed 18.7 ppg and 11.1 rpg; both players made the All-Star team, as did future Hall of Famer George Gervin (21.8 ppg)--but the team's best player that year was James "Captain Late" Silas, who finished second in the MVP voting after averaging 23.8 ppg (sixth in the league) and 5.4 apg (fifth in the league). Silas earned All-ABA First Team honors, while Gervin made the All-ABA Second Team.
Taylor was New York's only All-Star other than Erving; while Erving was clearly the best player in the New York-San Antonio series, the Spurs had the four next best players, so even if Taylor played one of San Antonio's All-Star guards to a draw Erving had to outduel the Spurs' other All-Stars for the Nets to have a chance--and that is what happened as Erving averaged 32.1 ppg, 11.3 rpg and 4.6 apg in the third "Final Four" appearance of his professional career.
Erving scored a game-high 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds as New York opened the series with a 116-101 win; Gervin led the Spurs with 20 points. Silas scored 10 points on 3-10 field goal shooting in 26 minutes before suffering a chip fracture in his right ankle, an injury that ended his season.
If the game one loss and Silas' injury deflated the Spurs, they recovered very quickly, blowing out the Nets 105-79 in game two. Kenon scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Gervin added 22 points and 13 rebounds and Paultz scored 20 points while controlling a game-high 18 rebounds. Erving led the Nets with 27 points and he also had seven rebounds. "It's evident we didn't play with intensity," Erving said after the game. "We were flat. It was more what we didn't do than what they did." The Spurs took control of the game late in the second quarter with a 17-4 run. One newspaper article noted that portions of game two were televised nationally and stated that this was "the ABA's first network exposure in several years."
Erving's game-high 31 points did not prevent the Spurs from taking a 2-1 lead with a 111-103 win; Erving almost had a triple double, finishing with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Kenon led the Spurs with 28 points and he had 16 rebounds as the Spurs outrebounded the Nets 57-46. Kenon scored 24 points in the second half to help the Spurs bounce back from a five point halftime deficit. Gale contributed a career-high 22 points plus 11 assists and after the game he admitted to feeling extra satisfaction sticking it to his old team. Lest the Spurs get too giddy, San Antonio Coach Bob Bass sounded a cautionary note: "The pressure is still on us." The Spurs had to win game four to avoid giving homecourt advantage back to the Nets.
Erving scored a game-high 35 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished off four assists as New York knotted the series at 2-2 with a 110-108 win. Erving scored 11 fourth quarter points, including the game-winning dunk. Williamson added 31 points, including 20 in the second half. Gervin led San Antonio with 28 points. Game four featured a fight between Taylor and George Karl, a journeyman guard who is now best known for his success as an NBA head coach. Both benches cleared and it took several minutes to restore order. ABA Commissioner Dave DeBusschere eventually fined 14 players--eight Nets and six Spurs--for their actions during the fracas, with Taylor, Karl, Jones and Williamson receiving the largest punishments ($300 each). Erving and Kenon were not fined, while Gervin and Paultz were among the 10 players who were fined $100 each for leaving the bench area.
Erving scored a game-high 32 points and contributed 10 rebounds and six assists as New York again triumphed 110-108 to take a 3-2 series lead. The Spurs opened the game with a 12-2 run but Erving scored nine second quarter points to help the Nets catch up by halftime. Gale, who finished with 20 points on 10-16 field goal shooting, used a screen to elude Al Skinner's defense and attempted a jumper to tie the score with just four seconds left but Erving swatted Gale's shot away. "I don't know how high I got up but it was high enough," Erving said after the game. "I hit the ball with a full hand, just smashed it back to the floor. It felt good." Gale shook his head as he described the play to reporters: "I thought I had it. It looked good all the way. It seemed like it had eyes...and then he came out of nowhere."
The Spurs tied the series at 3-3 with a 106-105 win despite Erving's game-high 41 points and 12 rebounds; Erving poured in 31 second half points, spearheading a Nets' rally that came up just short. With the Spurs clinging to a 102-101 lead, Erving missed two free throws at the 1:46 mark of the fourth quarter but soon after that he buried a jumper to put the Nets up 103-102. Erving played in 59 "Final Four" games during his professional career and he averaged 24.1 ppg in those contests but that turned out to be his only 40 point game in that round of the playoffs (he finished with seven 40 point playoff games overall, including three in the ABA Finals and one in the NBA Finals).
Gervin led the Spurs with 37 points in game six and the three former Nets again played key roles for the Spurs: Gale scored 20 points, Paultz scored 19 points and Kenon also scored 19 points, including the two game-winning free throws with three seconds left.
Jones did not dress for the game or even show up at the arena; Loughery later said that Jones did not play due to "mental distress." Jones had been a central figure in the game four brawl in San Antonio and there were also rumors that San Antonio authorities were after him in connection with unspecified financial problems dating back to when Jones played for the Spurs, so Jones and/or Loughery decided that it would be best if Jones laid low.
Jones made a triumphant return to action in New York as the Nets captured game seven, 121-114. Gervin scored a game-high 31 points in defeat. Erving led the Nets with 28 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists, while Jones added 25 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor scored nine points in a stretch lasting less than three minutes to ignite a pivotal New York run. "This was the most important game in the history of the franchise," an exultant Loughery declared. "We had to win and we had to play well." A standing room only crowd of 15,964 cheered the Nets on and another 1000 people were turned away, a remarkable show of support for a team that had previously struggled to attract fans even after winning the 1974 championship.
The Nets faced a big challenge against Denver and Erving elevated his performance literally and figuratively, assaulting the hoop from all angles as he opened the Finals by scoring a game-high 45 points on 17-25 field goal shooting and 11-11 free throw shooting. He also had 12 rebounds and four assists. Erving nailed the game-winning jumper from the baseline as time expired in New York's 120-118 win, completing a closing flourish during which he scored 18 of the Nets' final 22 points, with eight of those points coming on dunks. The 6-9, long-armed Bobby Jones guarded Erving for most of the game--including that final play--and he later said, "It's tough to defend him, knowing he's always going to the hoop and never knowing how." Thompson led the Nuggets with 30 points; seven Denver players reached double figures in scoring, including rookie center Marvin Webster, who tallied 14 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. An ABA record crowd of 19,034 attended the game at Denver's McNichols Arena.
The Nuggets won game two 127-121 but Erving was even more spectacular: he scored 48 points on 17-26 field goal shooting and 12-16 free throw shooting and he narrowly missed posting a triple double, finishing with 14 rebounds and eight assists. He scored 25 points in the fourth quarter, breaking Joe Fulks' 29 year old Finals record for points in one quarter (21; Isiah Thomas tied Erving's mark during the 1988 NBA Finals) and setting a pro basketball record for points in one quarter of a playoff game (Sleepy Floyd established a new standard in 1987 with a 29 point quarter versus the Lakers). Erving's 37 second half points eclipsed Elgin Baylor's 1962 record for points in one half of a playoff game (33, set in the Finals versus the Celtics; Erving still holds the Finals record, but Floyd holds the playoff record with 39 points). Nets not named Erving shot 29-78 (.372) from the field, spoiling Erving's record-setting effort. Simpson led the Nuggets with 25 points, while Thompson, Jones and Issel scored 24 points each. Denver set a new ABA attendance record, 19,107.
Erving had 31 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots in New York's 117-111 game three win. He scored eight points and blocked two shots in the final two minutes; in the game's last 31 seconds, Erving scored on a reverse layup, made two free throws and embarked on a coast to coast drive punctuated with a reverse dunk. Erving shot 11-23 from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line. "I feel like I can do just about anything I want to do," Erving said. Erving received more help from his teammates than he had in game two:
Williamson scored 28 points and Rich Jones added 22 points and 10
rebounds. Thompson scored a game-high 32 points, while Issel had 25
points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Bobby Jones said that Erving "came out of nowhere" to get those late game blocked shots, prompting the New York Times' Dave Anderson to write, "That's not surprising. Doctor J performs in nowhere. He is the best basketball player in captivity, perhaps in history. But the Nets are competing for the American Basketball Association championship and, sadly, that's nowhere. Only 12,243 customers attended Thursday night's game...the NBA can't call itself the best basketball league until it features the best basketball player...The NBA without Dr. J is like boxing without Muhammad Ali, football without O.J. Simpson, baseball without Tom Seaver. The shame is that some people, possibly many people, don't appreciate Doctor J's skills because ABA games are not shown on national television. Out of sight, out of mind. It's as if Nureyev was dancing on a street corner, as if Picasso displayed his paintings in a park...Over his ABA career, the six foot six inch forward has averaged 30.8 points in 45 playoff games. The highest scoring averages in NBA playoff history are 29.7 by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 57 games and 29.1 by Jerry West in 153 games."
Erving and the ABA belatedly received some national media coverage as Howard Cosell and ABC's Wide World of Sports showed up for game four to document Erving's sensational play--and Erving did not disappoint, leading both teams with 34 points, 15 rebounds and six assists as New York took a 3-1 series lead with a 121-112 win. Erving shot 11-20 from the field and 12-15 from the free throw line and he provided plenty of footage for ABC, delivering an assortment of dunks and spectacular moves. The Nuggets took an 11 point first quarter lead but Erving scored 10 straight third quarter points to put the Nets ahead for good. Williamson (24 points) and Taylor (23 points) provided solid support for Erving. Issel led the Nuggets with 26 points and tied Erving for game-high rebounding honors.
Denver won game five 118-110 even though Erving again led both teams in scoring (37 points), rebounds (15) and assists (five, tied with Denver's Chuck Williams for game-high honors); Erving's brilliance could not quite overcome Denver's balance: six Nuggets scored in double figures, led by Issel and Simpson (21 points each). Williamson scored 24 points but Taylor only scored 13 points before being ejected for punching Denver guard Monte Towe. Denver took an early 11 point lead, the Nets countered with a huge run that put them up 49-33 in the second quarter but the Nuggets stormed back to go ahead 89-73 by the end of the third quarter. Denver dominated the boards 51-32 as no Net other than Erving grabbed more than four rebounds.
The Nuggets built an 80-58 lead midway through the third quarter of game six and seemed poised to send the series back to Denver for a seventh game but the Nets turned the game around with a furious full court press; Erving got all five of his steals in the final 17 minutes as the Nets outscored the Nuggets 54-26 down the stretch to win 112-106 and claim the ABA's final championship. Erving led the Nets in scoring (31 points), rebounds (19) and assists (five) but he received support from Williamson (28 points, including 24 in the second half) and Taylor (24 points). Erving scored 18 third quarter points to start the Nets' rally and Williamson scored 16 fourth quarter points to complete it as Erving dominated the boards and spearheaded a suffocating defense that gave up just four field field goals in the final 12 minutes; Loughery realized early in the 1973-74 season that he could not use that pressing defense throughout an 84 game season but it proved to be a devastating weapon just when the Nets needed it the most. Thompson scored a game-high 42 points, finishing the series with a 28.2 ppg average. Issel had 30 points and 20 rebounds. Denver's Coach Larry Brown said, "You can't tell me there's a more courageous club than the Nets. You can't tell me there's a greater player than Julius Erving."
"We knew this might be the final championship in this league and we wanted it," Erving said. He was the easy choice for Playoff MVP honors after setting ABA Finals records for points (226) and scoring average (37.7 ppg, the fourth highest pro basketball Finals average at that time and still sixth on the all-time list); Michael Jordan holds the all-time Finals scoring record (41.0 ppg in six games in 1993), followed by Rick Barry (40.8 ppg in six games in 1967), Elgin Baylor (40.6 ppg in seven games in 1962), Shaquille O'Neal (38.0 ppg in six games in 2000) and Jerry West (37.9 ppg in seven games in 1969). Erving shot 79-134 from the field (.590) and 66-84 from the free throw line (.786).
Erving's brilliance during the 1975-76 regular season and the 1976 playoffs inspired awe among players, coaches and media members. Bobby Jones said, "He destroys the adage that I’ve always been taught--that one man can't do it alone. To be honest, I enjoy watching him. I know he's doing things I'll never see again." In Pluto's Loose Balls (p. 320), former Nets' broadcaster John Sterling remembered
that during the 1975-76 season Loughery said to Erving in a huddle, "I called that
timeout because I wanted to tell you that you've just played the
greatest three minute stretch of basketball I have ever seen." Perhaps the most eloquent tribute came from Pete Axthelm in the May 21, 1976 issue of Newsweek: "No one has ever controlled and conquered the air above pro basketball like Julius Erving, the incomparable Dr. J of the New York Nets. The Doctor not only leaps higher and stays aloft longer than most players dream possible, but he uses his air time to transform his sport into graceful ballet, breathtaking drama or science fiction fantasy--depending upon his mood of the moment and the needs of his team. At 26, Erving has established himself as the most exciting offensive player in basketball. And last week as he led the Nets to their second American Basketball Association title in three years, the Doctor persuaded many people that he may be the greatest player of all time."
In Sports Illustrated's May 4, 1987 Julius Erving tribute issue, John Papanek wrote:
It has been said that unless one saw him play in the ABA, one never saw the real Dr. J. And it's true. In May 1976, he was still a curiosity to most of America, just like the ABA's red-white-and-blue circus ball and the three-point field goal. That spring, nobody outside of New York or Denver (except subscribers to a fledgling cable-TV service called Home Box Office) saw, during one ABA championship series, the greatest individual performance by a basketball player at any level anywhere--ABA, NBA, BAA or UCLA.
What the Doctor did for the New York Nets against the Denver Nuggets in that playoff series was score 226 points, grab 85 rebounds and block 13 shots. But the numbers don't tell the story. You had to see the man and hear the music.
...Some combination of rocket-powered takeoffs, airborne course corrections, swooping finger-rolls and one-handed rebounds always showed up in an Erving game. Over these six championship games, though, something mind-boggling seemed to occur about every other minute.
Erving's greatness has stood the test of time; the August 1998 issue of Basketball News contained some quotes from Loughery about Julius Erving and Michael Jordan (Loughery is the only person who coached both players). Loughery said, "There are a lot of similarities between the Doctor and Michael. I think the ability to handle the ball probably puts Michael a tad ahead of the Doctor." However, Loughery added, "In the last year of the ABA, Dr. J. probably played as good a season as anyone who ever played...The Doc put on some show every day." Loughery's final verdict: "As it turned out, Michael did become the greatest ever. But when you talk about greatness, it was pretty close between Doc and Michael. You can never leave out Bill Russell, either, because he won 11 championships with the Celtics."
In the April 1997 Slam, Julius Erving offered his take on the various comparisons that are made about him and other great players:
"I think basketball is just a game. Let me put it this way: To me, Marvin Gaye is the greatest singer ever. You know what I mean? You listen to Luther and all of these other great singers, but when Marvin comes on, I gotta stop! He moves me. I gotta stop and say, 'That's the man.' Now someone may come along and lay 10 or 20 tracks and get the job done. You know, one of the ages, a classic. But it's not Marvin, who is the standard for me.
I think sports is the same thing. This is not going to determine whether or not there's going to be peace and happiness in the world (Ervinglaughs); it's not about life or death. It's about choices and tastes. Yes I do believe that we need to support the tradition and recognize what others have done, but we don't need to play one off against the other. Just because Michael comes along doesn't change anything.
What I'm talking about is how these players made you feel when you see them play? Elgin, Connie, myself, Michael. To know that you are watching something special happen that's artistic. Something that is profound. Something that is going to make you sit back and say, 'I'm moved.' Why recognize a guy at the expense of another guy? Enjoy it, because there's only a handful of people who are going to move you."
Sources: Various ABA Media Guides, John Grasso's ABA game by game logs, http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/home.htm, personal correspondence with Matthew Shuh, selected archival syndicated AP and UPI newspaper game recaps, The Legend of Dr. J by Marty Bell, Loose Balls by Terry Pluto, personal correspondence with Chris Nugent.
It is a myth that Julius Erving did not develop a good midrange jump shot until he entered the NBA. Check out this footage from game one of the 1974 New York-Kentucky series. You can tell both by watching the video and by listening to the commentators that the jumpers Erving hits are part of his normal repertoire, not some aberration (the first part of the video features a variety of Erving highlights plus an early interview with Erving but the latter part of the video shows Erving in action versus Kentucky):
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
