1975 Kentucky v. Golden State, who wins if they play 100 series?

[penbeast0]

1975 Kentucky Colonels -- ABA champions in the strongest year of the ABA -- coach Hubie Brown.

C Artis Gilmore -- in his best offensive ABA year
F-C Dan Issel -- role deemphasized considerably, possibly worst year of his career
SF-PF Wil Jones -- Kentucky picked him up because of an interview with Julius Erving who said Jones was the opponent who gave him the most trouble
SG- PG Ted McClain -- defensive specialist who could play either guard, a bit undersized for a 2
PG Louis Dampier -- ABA's best 3 point shooter who turned himself into a solid playmaker too

Bench -- G Bird Averitt and F Marv Roberts, both scorers who could create their own shot though nothing special, Ron Thomas undersized banger F/C

1975 Golden State Warriors -- coach Al Attles

C Cliff Ray -- undersized but strong, good defender/passer, not a scorer
F/F Rick Barry -- Larry Bird type player without the strength, great playmaker/scorer, meh defender, massive ego
F/F Jamaal Wilkes -- rookie who would develop into excellent player, at this point good defense, decent post/midrange, no handles
G/G Charles Johnson -- scoring guard with PG size, good defender
G/G Butch Beard -- big PG, a bit slow

Bench -- GS's BIG ADVANTAGE -- G Phil Smith and G/F Jeff Mullins both good scorers, Phil Smith rookie, Mullins past prime vet,
George Johnson one dimensional shotblocker, Derrick Dickey and Bill Bridges both physical PF types who could swing to SF (6-7 and 6-6)

Assume they are using ABA rules (3 pointer) but NBA supplies lead ref (so more likely to give star calls to the Warriors). They play 100 series, with 50 giving Warriors home court advantage and 50 giving Colonels home court. Players are at their health that they actually were in their respective finals but don't necessarily have the same hot or cold hand.

[wojoaderge]

Why ABA rules?

[penbeast0]

To allow the 3 pointer. Most players don't use it much in this era or when it was first introduced, Barry didn't when he was in the ABA despite his rep for distance shooting, but Dampier would shoot it in a modern fashion, open, off the break, etc. though not with modern frequency. No one else on Kentucky shot it much (total of 1.7 attempts per game in the playoffs with Dampier taking 0.9 of that). Disallowing it, though, would change their playstyle a bit where allowing it lets both teams play the way they actually did.

[wojoaderge]

I'm gonna say Kentucky 57-42

[Doctor MJ]

My instinct is to say Kentucky as they seem like a more consistently excellent team, but I do believe the Warriors caught fire at the right time so it's hard to really.

I will point out that the two teams played in an exhibition later that fall and Kentucky won 93-90, and in that exhibition schedule Kentucky went 7-2 against NBA teams, but that's not proof.

Re: Dampier & 3's. Man, can you imagine if Kentucky had truly embraced modern thinking? They had the personnel to just destroy everybody if they actually committed to stretching the floor around Gilmore.

[penbeast0]

I do tend to agree that the Warriors were a pretty weak champion that got hot while Kentucky was a strong one. I do love that great depth for the Warriors if there are injuries so I'll go 55/45 Kentucky.

[70sFan]

Actually, I know that the footage of exhibition between Warriors and Colonels exist online. I can't get it unfortunately...