The 1974–75 New York Nets season was the eighth season of the franchise in the American Basketball Association, which saw them first begin play as the New Jersey Americans before they moved to New York as the Nets for the rest of their ABA tenure. Entering this season, the Nets started out as the defending champions of the ABA for the first time in franchise history. One of the most notable games they played this season was against the San Diego Conquistadors in a quadruple-overtime game on February 14, losing what would become the highest-scoring game in ABA history with a 176–166 final score (the 166 points the Nets scored is still the highest overall points scored in franchise history either in the ABA or NBA to date (their highest-scoring NBA game as of 2025 would also come in a loss on December 7, 2006 in a 161–157 double-overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns when they became the New Jersey Nets at the time), which also led to their game against the Conquistadors being the highest-scoring professional basketball game overall (either in the ABA or NBA) until the Detroit Pistons (who previously won the lowest-scoring NBA game back when they were the Fort Wayne Pistons) beat the Denver Nuggets in a 186–184 triple-overtime game as a part of the NBA on December 13, 1983). Despite the Nets leading the Eastern Division with a five-game lead with close to two weeks remaining in the regular season, they would end up having a tied record to the Kentucky Colonels there due to Kentucky winning 22 out of their last 25 games of their season, including the final 10 games of their regular season (which also involved the final regular season game the Nets played). The Nets would play the Colonels in a one-game playoff match to determine the official Eastern Division winner, but Artis Gilmore's rebounding presence (with Gilmore having more rebounds than the entire Nets team that game) proved to be too much for the Nets during that match. Going from bad to worse, the Nets would lose their first round series match-up to the Spirits of St. Louis, a team they had beaten in the regular season eleven different times beforehand and also had a losing record to qualify for the playoffs, 4-1, thus failing at a chance for a rematch against the Colonels in the 1975 ABA Playoffs properly. This season also tragically proved to be their last season with beloved small forward Wendell Ladner playing for them, as after this season ended, he would tragically lose his life as one of the 113 fatalities (out of 124 total people) found in the Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, with him being identified by his championship ring with the Nets from the previous season as well as being the only ABA player to die during their career while in the league.
ABA Draft
Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 9 Brian Winters PG/SG United States South Carolina 2 17 Rich Kelley PF/C United States Stanford 3 30 Tom Boswell PF/C United States South Carolina 4 40 Talvin Skinner SF United States Maryland Eastern Shore 5 50 Eric Fernsten PF/C United States San Francisco 6 60 Gary Brokaw SG United States Notre Dame 7 70 Dean Tolson PF United States Arkansas 8 80 Al Skinner SG United States Massachusetts 9 90 Bob Fleischer F United States Duke This draft table does not include players selected in the "ABA Draft of NBA Players" that was done immediately afterward.
ABA Draft of NBA Players Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College NBA Team 1 10 Phil Chenier SG United States California Capital Bullets 2 20 Dave Cowens C United States Florida State Boston Celtics 3 30 Jerry Sloan SG United States Evansville Chicago Bulls 4 40 Jim Fox PF/C United States South Carolina Seattle SuperSonics 5 50 Garfield Heard PF United States Oklahoma Buffalo Braves The "ABA Draft of NBA Players" that was done on April 17, 1974 happened immediately after the actual ABA Draft done for this season was concluded on that day. None of the five players drafted by the Nets would report to the team during this season, though Jim Fox would later play for the Nets following the ABA-NBA merger that would later occur in 1976 for what would become his final season of play. Of the players selected by the Nets, Dave Cowens and Jerry Sloan would later go into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, though Sloan would primarily make it there for his role as a head coach for the Utah Jazz in the NBA.
Roster
Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L PCT. GB Kentucky Colonels* C 5826.690 - New York Nets* 5826.690 - Spirits of St. Louis* 3252.381 26 Memphis Sounds* 2757.321 31 Virginia Squires 1569.179 43 Asterisk denotes playoff berth
ABA Playoffs
Two days before the Semifinals began, the Nets and Colonels had a Tiebreaker game played to settle who would be the Eastern Division Champion and play the Memphis Sounds. Julius Erving scored 34 points for the Nets, but Artis Gilmore grabbed 33 rebounds for Kentucky, which was more rebounds than the entire Nets team got that game. The Colonels won the game 108–99 in Kentucky, thus the Nets were slated to play the Spirits of St. Louis.1974-75 New York Nets Roster and Stats
ABA Eastern Division Semifinals vs. Spirits of St. Louis Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 6 New York 111–105 1–0 11,607 2 April 9 New York 97–115 1–1 10,621 3 April 11 St. Louis 108–113 1–2 6,199 4 April 13 St. Louis 89–100 1–3 7,719 5 April 15 New York 107–108 1–4 9,664 Nets lose series, 4–1
References