A Super Sunday for Dr. J

On Super Bowl Sunday 1976, Julius "Dr. J" Erving played perhaps the greatest game ever in professional basketball up to that time

NASSAU COLISEUM, LONG ISLAND, NY - January 19, 1976

I’ve gone back in time virtually to follow the 1976 Nets and Julius Erving, aka Dr. J, day-by-day throughout the season.

Last night, after Super Bowl X between the Cowboys and the Steelers was over (the game started at 2pm ET), the Nets hosted the San Antonia Spurs at 8pm in front of 5,428 fans.

Those 5,428 were the only ones that got to see this game. It was not on TV, not in the New York area, not in Texas, nowhere.

Those 5,428 fans must have been mesmerized. They got to see Dr. J at his most dazzling. The good doctor had one of his greatest games.

And sadly, we have no videotape of it.

If we had this game on tape, and it was circulating on social media back home in 2026, I’m certain many hoops fans would be commenting that Dr. J is the GOAT (greatest of all-time). Not MJ. Not Lebron. Not Russell. Not Chamberlain. Not Kareem. They’d be saying the GOAT is the Doctor.

Wait, What - The GOAT?

Yes, the GOAT, because Dr. J delivered a performance yesterday, here in 1976, that was worthy of pinning the GOAT label on him.

Playing the San Antonio Spurs, the Nets were down by 14 in the middle of the 3rd quarter. That’s when Dr. J took over the operation. He scored 30 points in the 2nd half. The game went to OT, and the Nets won.

Dr. J scored 51 in the game to go along with 12 boards, 8 dishes, 4 swipes and 1 rejection. He even shot 50% on his threes (1 for 2).

WOW! What a game! Who does that?

The GOAT does.

But it’s not the line that was so amazing. It was HOW Erving scored the points, and how efficient he was, which was so over-the-top, so out-of-this-world, spectacular.

Dr. J made 22 of his 28 field goal attempts. That’s 79%. He was 21 for 26 on two-point shots and 1 for 2 on three pointers.

Here is how Nets’ beat writer Augie Borgi of the New York Daily News described Erving’s shooting in today’s paper:

And here’s how Jeff Grossman, the Spurs beat writer, described Erving’s shooting in the San Antonio-Express News this morning:

Paul L. Montgomery of the New York Times was also a witness to this wonder last night. He wrote in today’s paper:

Yet you still can’t appreciate how amazing Erving was last night until you read what Spurs’ coach Bob Bass told Grossman:

Nets’ coach Kevin Loughery, who has coached Julius for the past 3 seasons, told Jane Gross of Newsday, “I can’t think of anytime I’ve seen him better.”

Net’s assistant coach Bill Melchionni, who is also the back-up point guard, had this to say:

Don’t take Melchionni’s words lightly. You see Bill Melchionni was also a teammate of Wilt Chamberlain back in 1967. That’s the year the 76ers went 68 - 13, to set a standard for the best regular season record ever. They knocked out Bill Russell and the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, and then they went on to win the NBA championship.

Melchionni watched Wilt every night in that championship season, and he thinks last night’s game by Julius was better than anything he ever saw.

WOW!

Comparisons to Wilt

9 years ago, on December 20, 1967, Melchionni played 22 minutes in a game for the 76ers that they won in a laugher, 160 - 122.

In that game, Wilt Chamberlain scored 53 on 20 for 23 field goal shooting, although he missed half of his 26 free throws. I bring this up because Chamberlain’s 20 for 23 field goal game represents the highest shooting percentage, 87%, that anyone has ever had in a 50+ point game in NBA history up to this time.

Chamberlain also holds the record for the #2, #3, #4, #6, #7, and #8 most efficient shooting in 50+ point games up to this time.

Did you notice #5 is missing?

That’s because Doc’s game last night is #5.

But here’s the catch. Doc didn’t do it with dipper dunks like Wilt. He did it from all over the court, including from three-point land. And that makes Erving’s game last night so much more special than any of Wilt’s games.

And you can take Bill Melchionni’s word for that.

And Doc didn’t do it against a pushover team. When Wilt had his 20 for 23 game, he was playing the Seattle Supersonics in their expansion year season. They came into the game with a 9 - 25 record and their center was 6’ - 9” 220 pound Bob Rule.

Rule could not guard the 7’-1” 270 pound Chamberlain.

Doc, on the other hand, was playing a tough Spurs team last night that presently has the 3rd best record in the ABA. At the forward position, they had 6’-9” Larry Kenon, a perennial all-star who had 33 points and 9 rebounds last night. And at center, they had Billy Paultz, aka The Whopper, who had 34 points and 12 boards last night.

What’s more is that Kenon and Paultz are intimately familiar with Erving’s game since they were both his teammates and won the 1974 ABA Championship together.

Considering this makes it an even more mind-boggling game for Julius Erving.

Here’s how Doc himself described his game in Newsday:

And like a true basketball statesman, like the ultimate teammate, like the GOAT, Erving deflected the credit away from himself. Montgomery wrote in the Times:

And Erving told Borgi in the Daily News:

He told Jane Gross in Newsday:

Melchionni, receiving passes from Erving, shot 7 for 13 for 16 points.

Oh, how I wish I could have seen this game.

The Sports Time Traveler will continue following Julius Erving and the 1976 Nets, and report back to you in 2026, when there is something else so exciting I just have to share it.