The 1976 ABA All Star Game was the ninth and final American Basketball Association All-Star Game, played at McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, on January 27, 1976. This time, the league abandoned the usual East vs. West format it used from the 1967-68 season onward and instead had the league's first-place team at the All Star break face off against a team of ABA All Stars.[1] The change was decided given the league's reduction from ten to seven teams and from two divisions to only one.[2] At the All-Star break, the Denver Nuggets were in first place,[1] which was convenient as the Nuggets had also been selected to host the game in McNichols Arena. Kevin Loughery of the New York Nets coached the All-Stars while Larry Brown led the Denver Nuggets. This was the second year in a row that Loughery and Brown coached against each other in the ABA All-Star Game. (The Nuggets went on to finish the regular season in first place at 60-24 (.714), but after beating the Kentucky Colonels 4 games to 3 in the ABA Semifinals the Nuggets lost in the 1976 ABA Finals to the New York Nets, 4 games to 2.)[3]

The 12 All-Stars originally selected included the Nuggets' David Thompson, Bobby Jones, and Ralph Simpson. Coaches replaced them on the all-star squad with Maurice Lucas of Kentucky, Larry Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs , and Don Buse of the Indiana Pacers.[2]

Pre-game entertainment was provided by Glen Campbell and Charlie Rich.[4]

Halftime of the All Star Game saw the first-ever Slam Dunk Contest, which was won by Julius Erving of the New York Nets (who took off from the free throw line for one of his dunks[5]) over Denver's Thompson, Artis Gilmore of Kentucky, and both George Gervin and Larry Kenon of San Antonio.[6] The National Basketball Association later adopted the Slam Dunk Contest as part of its All-Star Game events starting in 1984 (also hosted by the Denver Nuggets). Denver's 52 fourth quarter points was a record for an ABA All-Star Game and capped a 144–138 comeback win.[4] It was the highest-scoring game in ABA All-Star history. Thompson was named the MVP.[1]

This was the final ABA All Star Game, due to the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976.

Score by Periods: 1 2 3 4 Final
Denver 32 23 37 52 144
All-Stars 31 25 41 41 138

All-Stars

Player, Team MIN FGM FGA 3PM 3PA FTM FTA REB AST STL BLK PFS PTS
Brian Taylor, NYA 29 3 9 0 1 0 0 4 8 0 0 3 6
Artis Gilmore, KEN 27 5 7 0 0 4 6 7 1 0 0 6 14
Julius Erving, NYA 25 9 12 0 1 5 7 7 5 0 0 4 23
James Silas, SAA 23 6 10 0 0 8 8 0 5 0 0 6 20
Billy Knight, INA 23 9 14 0 1 2 2 10 2 0 0 3 20
Billy Paultz, SAA 20 4 6 0 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 10
Larry Kenon, SAA 20 5 7 0 0 0 0 6 2 0 0 5 10
Ron Boone, SSL 16 5 11 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 10
George Gervin, SAA 16 3 13 1 2 1 2 6 1 0 0 1 8
Maurice Lucas, KEN 14 2 5 0 0 1 1 5 3 0 0 1 5
Don Buse, INA 14 2 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 5
Marvin Barnes, SSL 13 3 5 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 3 7
Team Totals 240 56 104 2 7 24 29 51 34 0 0 34 138

Denver

Player, Team MIN FGM FGA 3PM 3PA FTM FTA REB AST STL BLK PFS PTS
Ralph Simpson, DEN 37 8 15 0 0 3 3 7 5 0 0 0 19
David Thompson, DEN 34 9 18 0 0 11 13 8 2 0 0 4 29
Dan Issel, DEN 31 6 16 0 0 7 9 9 5 0 0 3 19
Bobby Jones, DEN 29 8 12 0 0 8 11 10 3 0 0 2 24
Claude Terry, DEN 25 5 12 1 3 3 5 3 3 0 0 2 14
Chuck Williams, DEN 22 2 6 0 0 3 5 1 4 0 0 2 7
Byron Beck, DEN 20 6 11 0 0 2 2 4 0 0 0 3 14
Gus Gerard, DEN 17 5 14 0 0 2 2 9 1 0 0 5 12
Monte Towe, DEN 11 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
Roger Brown, DEN 9 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 1 4
James Foster, DEN 5 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
Team Totals 240 52 112 1 3 39 50 55 28 0 0 23 144

References

  1. ^ a b c Hollander, Zander; Sachare, Alex (1989). The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia. Villar Books. p. 232. ISBN 0394580397. Retrieved May 21, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b "Erving, Gilmore head ABA's All-Star team". Fort Collins Coloradoan. AP. January 20, 1976. p. 12. Retrieved May 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Remember the ABA: 1975-76 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results Archived 2010-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Remember the ABA: American Basketball Association All-Star Games Archived December 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Dr. J dunks
  6. ^ The One That Started It All

External links

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