View source for 1976 ABA All-Star Game

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
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.<ref name=hollander>{{cite book|last1=Hollander|first1=Zander|last2=Sachare|first2=Alex|title=The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia|year=1989|publisher=Villar Books|page=232|url=https://archive.org/details/officialnbabaske00holl/page/232/mode/1up|url-access=registration|access-date=May 21, 2023|via=[[Internet Archive]]|isbn= 0394580397}}</ref>  The change was decided given the league's reduction from ten to seven teams and from two divisions to only one.<ref name=ap_01201976>{{cite web|title=Erving, Gilmore head ABA's All-Star team|date=January 20, 1976|page=12|work=Fort Collins Coloradoan|agency=AP|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-collins-coloradoan/125112600/|access-date=May 21, 2023|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> At the All-Star break, the [[Denver Nuggets]] were in first place,<ref name=hollander/> 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 (basketball)|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 [[1976 ABA Playoffs|ABA Semifinals]] the Nuggets lost in the [[1976 ABA Finals]] to the [[New York Nets]], 4 games to 2.)<ref>[http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1976Playoffs.html Remember the ABA: 1975-76 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129194323/http://remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1976Playoffs.html |date=2010-11-29 }}</ref>

The 12 All-Stars originally selected included the Nuggets' [[David Thompson (basketball)|David Thompson]], [[Bobby Jones (basketball, born 1951)|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]].<ref name=ap_01201976/>

Pre-game entertainment was provided by [[Glen Campbell]] and [[Charlie Rich]].<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAAllStarGames/AllStar.html Remember the ABA: American Basketball Association All-Star Games<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221221458/http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAAllStarGames/AllStar.html |date=December 21, 2008 }}</ref>

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<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8avS95Hs8A&list=PLy1DU4ZsrZT-b6hHraxW_Cnt5_0M6G1An#t=1457 Dr. J dunks]</ref>) over Denver's Thompson, [[Artis Gilmore]] of Kentucky, and both [[George Gervin]] and [[Larry Kenon]] of San Antonio.<ref>[http://www.nba.com/allstar2005/dunkcontest_76.html The One That Started It All<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>  The [[National Basketball Association]] later adopted the Slam Dunk Contest as part of [[NBA All-Star Weekend|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.<ref name=autogenerated1/> It was the highest-scoring game in ABA All-Star history. Thompson was named the MVP.<ref name=hollander/>

This was the final ABA All Star Game, due to the [[ABA-NBA merger]] in June 1976.
 {| cellpadding=5
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
|'''Score by Periods:'''|| '''1'''||'''2'''||'''3'''||'''4'''||'''Final'''
|-
|| Denver || 32 || 23 || 37 || 52 || 144
|-
|| All-Stars || 31 || 25 || 41 || 41 || 138
|-
|}

==All-Stars==
{| cellpadding=5
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
|'''Player, Team'''|| '''MIN'''||'''FGM'''||'''FGA'''||'''3PM'''||'''3PA'''||'''FTM'''||'''FTA'''||'''REB'''||'''AST'''||'''STL'''||'''BLK'''||'''PFS'''||'''PTS'''
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|-
|| [[Brian Taylor (basketball)|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==
 {| cellpadding=5
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
|'''Player, Team'''|| '''MIN'''||'''FGM'''||'''FGA'''||'''3PM'''||'''3PA'''||'''FTM'''||'''FTA'''||'''REB'''||'''AST'''||'''STL'''||'''BLK'''||'''PFS'''||'''PTS'''
|-bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|-
|| [[Ralph Simpson]], DEN  || 37 || 8 || 15 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 3 || 7 || 5 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 19
|-
|| [[David Thompson (basketball)|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 (basketball, born 1951)|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 (basketball)|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 (basketball, born 1950)|Roger Brown]], DEN  || 9 || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 4
|-
|| [[Jimmy Foster (basketball)|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
|-
|}
 
*Halftime — All-Stars, 56–55
*Third Quarter — All-Stars, 97–92
*Officials: [[Norm Drucker]] and [[Ed Middleton]]
*Attendance: 17,798

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book | title = The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia | publisher =  Villard Books | year = 1994 | pages = 260 | isbn = 0-679-43293-0}}
*{{cite web | last = basketball-reference.com | title = 1976 ABA All-Star Game | url= https://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/ABA_1976.html | access-date = 2013-09-11}}

{{Portal|Sports}}

== External links ==
{{Denver Nuggets}}
{{ABA seasons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:All-Star}}
[[Category:1975–76 ABA season]]
[[Category:Denver Nuggets games]]
[[Category:1975 in sports in Colorado]]
[[Category:January 1975 sports events in the United States]]