1975 ABA playoffs

The 1975 ABA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1974–75 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels defeating the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers in the ABA Finals in five games.

Background

The Kentucky Colonels won 22 of their final 25 regular season games to catch the New York Nets for a share of first place in the Eastern Division. The Colonels won their last ten regular season games. They also went 13–3 in the ABA playoffs.
Because the Colonels and Nets tied for first place in the Eastern Division, a special one game playoff was played to determine the division champion. The Colonels hosted the game and defeated the Nets 108–99 on April 4, 1975.
The Memphis Sounds' Eastern Division 111–99 semifinal loss on the road to the Kentucky Colonels on April 13, 1975, was the final game played by the Sounds. After the season they moved to Maryland and became the Baltimore Claws.
The first round win by the Spirits of St. Louis over the New York Nets was the biggest upset of the playoffs. Not only had the Spirits finished 26 games behind the Nets in the regular season, they had also lost all 11 regular season matchups to the Nets, and by an average of 17.3 points per game. But after losing the opener of the series to stretch the losing streak to 12, the Spirits rolled off four wins in a row to claim the series.
The 1975 ABA Finals marked the second time in three years that the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers met in the ABA championship series. The Pacers edged the Colonels 4 games to 3 at the end of the 1973 ABA Playoffs.
16,622 fans attended the final playoff game of the season in Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, as the Kentucky Colonels defeated the Indiana Pacers 110–105 to win the ABA Championship.
Artis Gilmore was named Most Valuable Player of the 1975 ABA Playoffs. In Game 3, he recorded 28 rebounds while in the clinching Game 5 he had 28 points and 31 rebounds.
The 1975 Kentucky Colonels were the final team to win an ABA Championship but not move on to the NBA later.

Bracket

Eastern Division Tiebreaker Game

With the division on the line, Artis Gilmore practically willed the Colonels to victory, leading the team in scoring with 28 points while having 33 rebounds, which actually was more than the entire Nets team had. New York suffered with the departure of Billy Paultz with a groin injury that sent him off to the bench for Willie Sojourner, who Gilmore stated didn't have the confidence to take the "outside jump shot so you can back off him and be in a good position for the rebound." Julius Erving scored 34 points to lead the Nets in scoring while followed by John Williamson, who scored 29. The Colonels, who had trailed by four games to New York two weeks ago before winning nine in a row to close out the regular season, were now champions of the division.

Division Semifinals

Eastern Division Semifinals

(1) Kentucky Colonels vs. (4) Memphis Sounds

(2) New York Nets vs. (3) Spirits of St. Louis

Trailing by one late, the Spirits forced a turnover by Julius Erving and Freddie Lewis caught a pass to then shoot a 20-foot shot that went with time expiring to give the Spirits the win and end the series.

Western Division Semifinals

(1) Denver Nuggets vs. (4) Utah Stars

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (3) Indiana Pacers

The Spurs held dominion over the game but needed late heroics to stave off elimination. San Antonio led by eight at halftime and even led 68–59 four minutes into the third quarter. But Indiana went on a 10–2 run in two minutes to trail by just one before the teams traded points to make it 84–81 San Antonio before the final quarter started. McGinnis tied the game for the first time with a layup at 91–91 while Billy Knight tied the game again with 4:37 to go at 99–99. With little time remaining, McGinnis was fouled and made his free throws to give Indiana the lead at 109–108. He then had a chance to make a shot to increase the lead, but Swen Nater got the rebound to set up the inbound for San Antonio. George Gervin hit a 20-foot shot from behind the key to pull San Antonio ahead with less than five seconds remaining. McGinnis tried to drive a layup in heavy traffic, but the ball bounced over the edge for Nater to pick off and kill the rest of the clock. George Gervin led the Spurs in scoring with 29 while Swen Nater had 22 rebounds. George McGinnis powered the Pacers with a triple-double of 51 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the first and only 50-point triple double in NBA/ABA playoff history for 42 years.

Division Finals

Western Division Finals

(1) Denver Nuggets vs. (3) Indiana Pacers

Eastern Division Finals

(1) Kentucky Colonels vs. (3) Spirits of St. Louis

St. Louis led by ten in the second quarter but Freddie Lewis suffered a sprained ankle that knocked him out of the game and the series as Kentucky rallied back to take a 3–1 series lead.

ABA Finals: (E1) Kentucky Colonels vs. (W3) Indiana Pacers

Strangely, due to Freedom Hall likely already being booked, the ABA Finals was delayed for several days, which led to both teams in the Pacers and Colonels being considerably relaxed. In tune to ABA promotional wizardry, select Pacers fans even took interest of a package deal that offered a ticket, food and drink to go with bus transportation down Interstate 65 to Louisville for just $17.50. Kentucky played with domination over Indiana, holding them to 37 percent shooting and outscoring 37-21 while the bench held firm even when Artis Gilmore was taken out for a time after getting his fifth foul. On the promotional side, the Pacers being held to under 100 points meant a free hamburger for every person to have bought a ticket.
A rough first quarter for Indiana meant that the Colonels had an early lead in the first half, but the Pacers went on a 23–8 run to lead by five at halftime. The Colonels eventually narrowed the lead down by the end of the third quarter to three and even led by six in the final quarter before the two teams tightened. The game was tied at 93 on a George McGinnis shot with 46 seconds to play. With twelve seconds remaining, a Pacer turnover gave the Colonels the ball. Louie Dampier got the ball to Dan Issel, who then got the ball to Artis Gilmore to get the inside shot to give Kentucky the lead. Billy Keller tried a desperation shot from 40 feet out that had gone in, but the referees ruled that the shot was released after the buzzer while the Pacers contended that the clock did not start in time. The Pacers filed a protest with the league asking for a replay.
A 41-point performance by Artis Gilmore lifted the Colonels to victory after being down by eight to start the final quarter. Dan Issel scored seven straight points to cut the deficit before Louie Dampier tied it on a three and Gilmore hit a layup to pull the Colonels ahead as they held on for the final three minutes.
Prior to the game, the request to replay Game 2 was denied by the league. The Pacers, facing elimination, managed to turn a 73–72 lead with nine minutes to go into an insurmountable one with shots from Billy Keller and others to go up 82–76 with six minutes to go.
After eight years of frustration and two prior losses in the ABA Finals, the Colonels closed out Game 5 with a victory to win the championship. Indiana had the lead just two times as Kentucky controlled the game despite not leading by more than nine at any point, doing so with a fastbreak offense that did not waver. The Pacers did threaten late by narrowing it to 100–97 with 3:19 to go, but Marv Robers and McClain made quick baskets to keep a steady lead. Gilmore shot two free throws with under twenty seconds to go to fully clinch the victory.
Ted McClain had fifteen steals and Artis Gilmore had 31 rebounds, each being league records for a postseason game. The Game 5 victory is the first time a team from the commonwealth of Kentucky has won a professional championship.
Along with both head coaches, five players in the series have since been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Louie Dampier, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, Roger Brown, and George McGinnis.
George McGinnis finished his postseason run with 581 points scored in eighteen total games, setting a new record for most points scored in a postseason by any basketball player. In addition to being the most scored for an ABA postseason, it was not surpassed by any player until Larry Bird in the 1984 postseason. McGinnis was the first and only NBA/ABA player to lead the entire postseason in points, assists, and rebounds until Nikola Jokić accomplished the feat in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
The Colonels issued a challenge to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and even offered money, but the NBA refused. True to the word of team co-owner Ellie Brown, the Colonel championship ring was inscribed with "World Champions" on the front.

Statistical leaders

Total leaders

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Minutes