January 27, 1976: 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 to this day. Both teams would enter the NBA before the next season, as would the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. In 46 years, the Spurs are 5-1 in NBA Finals, the Nets 0-2, the Pacers 0-1, and the Nuggets... 0-0.
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.
UPDATE: In 2023, the Nuggets finally made their 1st NBA Finals, and won it. In 2024, the New York Liberty ended New York's drought by winning the WNBA Championship. In 2025, the Pacers returned to the Finals, but lost.
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January 27, 1976 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. In spite of the ABA having its All-Star Game that night, the NBA played 7 games:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 114-113 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 129-105 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 85-83 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Golden State Warriors, 110-103 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Kansas City Kings beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 107-89 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-116 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 118-105 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 5 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 8-4 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Washington Capitals, 2-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.
* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in in Vancouver.
And there were 3 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 9-1 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Toronto Toros and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-3 in overtime at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).
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