Wed, May 13th, 2020

ABA’s final Finals — NBA plan — Baseball Jordan

May 13, 2020

Wed, May 13th, 2020

  The Opening Tip

  • Remembering the final ABA game on its 44-year anniversary 

  • Jordan goes deep 

  • The NBA had a fruitful discussion yesterday 

1. The Lead: New York’s last basketball title    

Three years after the Knicks won their second title, in 1973, New York basketball won another title, when the ABA’s New York Nets beat the Denver Nuggets, 112-106, to clinch a six-game Finals victory in front of 15,434 at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. Today is the 44-year anniversary of the win.It was the final game of the ABA’s existence, and the last title for a New York basketball team.(Thanks to a talented torrenter, the full game is on YouTube.)The background: The ABA entered 1975-‘76 on its last legs. To start the year, there were 10 teams. By the end, the Baltimore Claws, Virginia Squires, San Diego Sails and Utah Stars had all folded, leaving only six. Shortly after the ‘76 Finals, a merger was agreed upon that sent the Nets, Nuggets, Spurs and Pacers to the NBA, while the ABA finally ceased operations.By the end, the league was nothing but a few cult fan bases and a handful of great players: New York’s Julius Erving; Denver’s David Thompson and Dan Issel; San Antonio’s George Gervin; Kentucky’s Artis Gilmore; St. Louis’s Marvin Barnes and Maurice Lucas; and so on.In the semifinals, the Nets beat the Spurs while the Nuggets, coached by Larry Brown, beat the Kentucky Colonels, setting up a matchup of soon-to-be NBA stars in Julius Erving and David Thomspon.The Nets, though, dominated the ABA’s final quarter, winning for themselves, the 15,000 people in Nassau Coliseum, and not much else.The Nets were supposed to receive a brand new trophy, except for the fact that then-commissioner Dave DeBusschere forgot to lock his car a few days earlier.From an archived New York Times article:  

“For winning what may be the last championship the depleted A.B.A. will ever have, the Nets got $95,000 ($25,000 for finishing second in the regular season and $70,000 for the playoffs) to divide as they choose. They also got the same silver trophy they won in 1974, since the A.B.A.'s new $800 silver bowl that was to be presented to the winner was stolen from Commissioner Dave DeBusschere's car in Denver earlier in the week. Denver went home with $81,000, including $30,000 for finishing first in the regular season.”

Can you miss something that ended 17 years before you were born?

 2. No one murdered defenders like Dr. J 

The NBA version of Dr. J (1976-’87) had glimpses of his mystique, like the dunk above, but the ABA version of Dr. J (1971-’76), fresh off his three years at UMass-Amherst, was the unleashed, afro-rocking king of the league.His ABA accolades:

3. The NBA is inching toward a consensus plan to bring the season back   

Adam Silver had a conference call last night with all of the important people, which went pretty well, according to Woj:  

“Owners and executives on the call were encouraged about the league's progress toward minimizing health risk upon a return and the league office's positive conversations with the National Basketball Players Association about the players' desire to eventually restart the season, sources said.”

Among the topics discussed: What would happen if a player tested positive, like what happened with Rudy Gobert in March? In Silver’s eyes, that wouldn’t stop the jumpstarted hypothetical season in its tracks.From Woj’s reporting:  

“Silver told those on the call that if a positive test would ‘shut us down, we probably shouldn't go down this path.’”

Silver also spoke of creating a “campus environment” for all of the teams, whether it be in Las Vegas or Orlando, which sounds way better than, “we’re going to shove everyone into a massive bubble in some Vegas warehouse.”Meanwhile: LeBron James, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Curry were part of a video chat Monday, where they specifically voiced their hope to continue the season.We ask: Why would Curry want that?

4. The Double-A Southern League of the mid-’90s dug the long ball, especially when hit by the greatest basketball player of all-time 

Sunday’s episodes of “The Last Dance” covered Michael Jordan’s foray into baseball after his first retirement.Decades later, this factual sentence still doesn’t seem real: 

In 1993, the three-time reigning NBA champion and most famous athlete in the world retired from basketball to dive head first into the unglamorous world of long bus rides and bad food in mid-sized cities across the southeast, as a member of the Double-A Birmingham Barons. 

Anywho, Jordan batted .202 with three home runs and 51 RBI in his one season in the minors. It was good enough that Terry Francona, his manager for the season, said Jordan could have eventually made it to the bigs. (It’s also important to note that Francona has never said anything bad about one of his players, ever.)“The Last Dance” did an admirable job of covering Jordan’s baseball life, but the best job to date was done in the 30 for 30 “Jordan Rides the Bus.”[READ: Actually, Michael Jordan’s .202 batting average is more impressive than it seems]

5.  Off the press

  • Going, going, gone: The return of the remote sports broadcast [The Ringer]

  • Steve Kerr isn’t proud of his infamous practice scuffle with Michael Jordan [ESPN]

  • Can the NBA come back, and stay back? [The New York Times]