[EDIT 6/22/2015: This is the apostrophe police]
[EDIT 11/30/2015: Adding "basketball" label and removing justification]
In a seven-game NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in all the odd-numbered games to win their first title since 1969. John Havlicek is the MVP of the playoffs.
The New York Nets are ABA champions after a five-game final against the Utah Stars.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Bucks is the NBA's MVP for the third time. He averages 30.0 points per game and gets 14.5 rebounds per game.
Julius Erving, brought to the Nets from the Virginia Squires before the season, wins his first ABA MVP award and his second scoring title for the league.
The former Baltimore Bullets play their first season in Landover, Maryland. They are called the Capital Bullets for one season.
The 1973-74 season is the first one in which the NBA and ABA keep track of blocks and steals. The first official NBA leaders in those stats are, respectively, Elmore Smith of the Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Steele of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Smith's 17 blocks in a game Oct. 28 are still a record.
Bob McAdoo of the Buffalo Braves wins his first of three consecutive NBA scoring titles. He has 30.8 points per game in '73-74.
The Braves' Ernie DiGregorio, NBA Rookie of the Year, leads the league in assists with 8.2 per game. He also has a league-high 90.2 free-throw percentage.
The Bullets' Elvin Hayes leads the league in rebounding with 18.1 boards per game.
The West wins 134-123 at the NBA All-Star Game in Seattle. Bob Lanier of the Detroit Pistons is the MVP with 24 points and 10 rebounds. His scoring average for the regular season is 22.5, and his average next season will be 24.0. Also scoring big for the West is Spencer Haywood of the Seattle Supersonics, with 23 points and 11 boards.
The East wins 128-112 at the ABA All-Star Game in Norfolk. Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels is the MVP with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Sven Nater of the San Antonio Spurs scores 29 points and gets 22 boards. Gilmore leads the ABA in rebounds with 18.3 per game, and Nater is Rookie of the Year.
The NBA's Coach of the Year is the Pistons' Ray Scott, while the Executive of the Year is the Braves' Eddie Donovan.
Sharing the award for ABA Coach of the Year are the Colonels' Babe McCarthy and the Stars' Joe Mullaney.
The All-NBA First Team: Abdul-Jabbar, the Golden State Warriors' Rick Barry, the New York Knicks' Walt Frazier, the Lakers' Gail Goodrich, and Havlicek.
The All-ABA First Team: the Carolina Cougars' Mack Calvin, Erving, Gilmore, the Stars' Jimmy Jones, and the Indiana Pacers' George McGinnis.
In a game against Portland March 26, Barry scores 64 points on 30 field goals, both marks of which the NBA hasn't seen the likes since Wilt Chamberlain's best years.
Counting NBA and ABA games, the Cougars' Billy Cunningham reaches 15,000 points sometime this season.
Oscar Robertson of the Bucks retires after the season with 26,710 points and 9,887 assists.
Also among the players retiring after '73-74 is Jerry West of the Lakers, who has 25,192 points, including 1,213 free throws.
The Hall of Fame welcomes Bill Russell in the '74 offseason.
The ABA's first-ever leader in steals is the San Diego Conquistadors' Caldwell Jones, and the Cougars' Ted McClain is its first leader in blocks.
In addition to having traded Erving before the season and Nater early in it, the Squires sell George Gervin to the Spurs Jan. 31. They go from 42-42 to 28-56, and will have a league-worst record of 15-69 next season.
This is the struggling Memphis Tams' last year in green and gold and their last under Charlie O. Finley's ownership, as was the Seals' case in the WHA. They finish with the worst record in the league and will be known as the Sounds next year.
After retiring from the NBA, Chamberlain tries his hand at coaching with the Conquistadors. Though he originally intends to be a player as well, the Lakers sue to keep him on the bench. Despite Wilt not being on the court and sometimes not even on the sidelines, the Q's go 37-47 - a seven-game improvement over '72-73 - and defeat the Denver Rockets in a tiebreaker for a higher playoff seed. Just like the year before, though, Utah sweeps San Diego in the first round of the playoffs.
The ABA from Basketball-Reference
The NBA from Basketball-Reference
ABA teams on Remember the ABA - Check out stories from the Nets and Stars to the Q's, Tams, and Squires
NEXT TIME - College basketball (and some high-school and international) in '73-74
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