DENVER — The ABA may be gone, but it’s not forgotten. She will enjoy a good platform this season, thanks to the Denver Nuggets.
Nearly 50 years after leaving the recalcitrant old league, which made its fame with its tricolor fly balls and three-point shots that redefined modern basketball, the Nuggets have finally become the fourth and final team in the defunct ABA — after the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets—to survive the 1976 merger and advance to the NBA Finals. The Nuggets will host the Miami Heat in Game 1 on Thursday night.
One of the greatest compliments the late ABA Nuggets can give the current team: These Nuggets are just like them.
“The new NBA is a lot like the old ABA,” Skywalker David Thompson told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. These Nuggets, we will encourage them. I want them to finish what we started.”
Thompson’s career with the Nuggets continued in both leagues. The American is a supporter of today’s Nuggets; he has a Nikola Jokic singlet in his own trophy room, which also includes a few tricolor balls, a pair of sneakers with the initials ‘DT’, as well as artifacts from his time helping to win the championship American Academic (NCAA) from North Carolina State University in 1974.
Some argue that the ‘Joker’ – a giant who enjoys distributing the ball as much as sending it to the basket – would fit perfectly with the philosophy of the ABA, a league renowned for its fast pace of play which has been marked by legendary players such as Julius Erving (Dr. J), George Gervin (Iceman), Rick Barry, Artis Gilmore and, of course, Thompson and his teammate, center Dan Issel.
“It’s fun to realize that 50 years later, the ABA has never been as popular as it is today,” said Issel, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame who also contributes to the Retired Players Association. of the NBA. It was spectacular basketball. It looked a lot like what we see today.
Today, everyone in Denver talks about the NBA title.
Issel believes this playoff run will cement Jokic’s unique place in Nuggets history, not to mention guard Jamal Murray. These may well eclipse other ex-Nuggets members, including Issel, Alex English, Thompson, Carmelo Anthony and many more.
Nevertheless, no one has forgotten the team that put down roots in Colorado.
“We were the underdogs, we were good, and not many people realized that at the time,” admitted Issel, who is still 12th in ABA/NBA scoring history. We felt like we were on the verge of achieving something special in ABA.”
2023-05-30 18:32:30
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