The American Basketball Association (ABA) Finals were the championship series of the ABA, a professional basketball league, in which two teams played each other for the title. The ABA was formed in the fall of 1967, and the first ABA Finals were played at the end of the league's first season in the spring of 1968.[1] The league ceased operations in 1976 with the ABA–NBA merger and four teams from the ABA continued play in the National Basketball Association.
All ABA Finals were in best-of-seven format and were contested between the winners of the Eastern Division and the Western Division finals. The only teams to win the championship more than once were the Indiana Pacers and the New York Nets. The Indiana Pacers initially played in the ABA Finals in 1969, which they lost to the Oakland Oaks, but they won the championship the next year against the Los Angeles Stars. They won in the ABA Finals again in 1972, their first after moving to the Western Division, against the New York Nets and won their final ABA championship against the Kentucky Colonels in 1973. The New York Nets won their first championship in 1974 against the Utah Stars, and their second against the Denver Nuggets in 1976.
The last ABA Finals were in 1976, after which the ABA–NBA merger took place; three of the four teams that continued into the NBA made it to or won the ABA Finals.[2]
| Bold | Winning team of the ABA Finals |
| † | Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season |
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times the team has won |
| Bold | Winning team of the ABA Championship | |
| Italics | Team with home-court advantage |
| width=3% | Year | width=15% | Western Champion | width=10% | Coach | width=3% class="unsortable" | Result | width=15% | Eastern Champion | width=10% | Coach | width=3% class="unsortable" | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | New Orleans Buccaneers (1, 0–1) | Babe McCarthy | 3–4 | Pittsburgh Pipers (1, 1–0) | Vince Cazzetta | [3] | |||||||
| 1969 | Oakland Oaks (1, 1–0) | Alex Hannum | 4–1 | Indiana Pacers (1, 0–1) | Bobby Leonard | [4] | |||||||
| 1970 | Los Angeles Stars (1, 0–1) | Bill Sharman | 2–4 | Indiana Pacers (2, 1–1) | Bobby Leonard | [5] | |||||||
| 1971 | Utah Stars (2, 1–1) | Bill Sharman | 4–3 | Kentucky Colonels (1, 0–1) | Frank Ramsey | [6] | |||||||
| 1972 | Indiana Pacers (2) (3, 2–1) | Bobby Leonard | 4–2 | New York Nets (1, 0–1) | Lou Carnesecca | [7] | |||||||
| 1973 | Indiana Pacers (3) (4, 3–1) | Bobby Leonard | 4–3 | Kentucky Colonels (2, 0–2) | Joe Mullaney | [8] | |||||||
| 1974 | Utah Stars (3, 1–2) | Joe Mullaney | 1–4 | New York Nets (2, 1–1) | Kevin Loughery | [9] | |||||||
| 1975 | Indiana Pacers (5, 3–2) | Bobby Leonard | 1–4 | Kentucky Colonels (3, 1–2) | Hubie Brown | [10] |
With the ABA cut down to seven teams by the middle of its final season, the league abandoned divisional play.
| width=3% | Year | width=15% | Higher seed | width=10% | Coach | width=3% class="unsortable" | Result | width=15% | Lower seed | width=10% | Coach | width=3% class="unsortable" | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Denver Nuggets (1, 0–1) | Larry Brown | 2–4 | New York Nets (2) (3, 2–1) | Kevin Loughery | [11] |
| Teams | Finals appearances | Championships | Runners-up | Years won | Years runners-up | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana Pacers | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1970, 1972, 1973 | 1969, 1975 | |
| New York Nets | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1974, 1976 | 1972 | |
| Kentucky Colonels | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1975 | 1971, 1973 | |
| Los Angeles / Utah Stars | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1971 | 1970, 1974 | |
| Oakland Oaks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1969 | — | |
| Pittsburgh Pipers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1968 | — | |
| Denver Nuggets | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 1976 | |
| New Orleans Buccaneers | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 1968 |