January 27, 1976, 50 years ago: The American Basketball Association All-Star Game is played at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. The Denver Nuggets, in 1st place in what had become a single 7-team division (3 teams had folded already this season), took on an All-Star team made up of players from the other 6, and won, 144-138.
But that's not what everyone remembers from this game. They remember the 1st-ever professional basketball Slam Dunk Contest, won by Julius Erving of the New York Nets. "Dr. J" made a leaping dunk from the foul line.
The other competitors were David Thompson of the Nuggets, Artis Gilmore of the Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels, and George Gervin and Larry Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs. All but Kenon have since been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The performances they put on led a writer from Sports Illustrated to write, "The dunk contest was the best halftime invention since the bathroom."
The Nets would beat the Nuggets in the ABA Finals -- the last league championship won by a New York Tri-State Area basketball team until the New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Championship. Both teams would enter the NBA before the next season, as would the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. In 50 years, the Spurs are 5-1 in NBA Finals, the Nuggets 1-0, and the Nets and Pacers are each 0-2.
The NBA would adopt the 3-point line that the ABA (and, before it, the 1961-62 ABL) used in 1979, and the All-Star Game Slam Dunk Contest in 1984. They would not, however, adopt the league's famed red, white & blue ball, sticking with their more familiar orange.
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