Dr. J - "I Never Saw a Game Like It"

Julius Erving's career high came in a classic game 50 years ago last night

SAN DIEGO - February 15, 1975

The Sports Time Traveler was in Southern California virtually last night to see the New York Nets take on the San Diego Conquistadors.

Fewer than 3,000 fans were in the San Diego Sports Arena to witness the game live. No one else in Southern California saw the game. But the game was on WOR Channel 9 in New York starting at 11pm ET.

For those few fans in the arena in San Diego, and the Nets fans in the New York area that stayed up into the early morning hours watching on TV, they saw something special, something historic.

And no one else will ever get to see it because there is no video tape, and there are not even any photographs.

The Nets came into the game with the best record in the ABA’s Eastern Division at 40 - 14, and they are the defending ABA champions. The Nets are led by a player who has reached superstar status - Julius Erving. Erving, who turns 25 next week, was last year’s ABA MVP and appears on his way to another MVP this season.

The Nets were highly favored to crush the San Diego Conquistadors, a team that is financially troubled and has a firm hold on last place in the ABA Western Division with a 12 - 36 record prior to last night’s game.

With 44 seconds left to play in the game things were playing out somewhat as expected. Nets fans had been treated to a special night. Julius Erving, affectionately known as Dr. J, because of the surgical precision in which he slices up opposing defenses, was having one of his better games of the season. He had poured in 45 points and the Nets led 129 - 124.

But the last place Conquistadors were not capitulating. Warren Jabali scored and was fouled by the Nets’ Willie Sojourner. He made the free throw to bring San Diego within 2 points. And then San Diego’s Travis Grant nailed a 22 foot jump shot at the buzzer to tie the game.

OVERTIME

The game went to overtime. It was a high scoring OT with the Q’s (as the Conquistadors are commonly called) outscoring the Nets 15 - 13 to hold a 2 point edge with 7 seconds remaining.

And then, as has happened over and over again, the Nets got the ball to Dr. J, and the Doctor delivered. Erving scored. The game was tied at 144. And time expired.

So the game went to a 2nd OT.

At some time during the first overtime, Dr. J, showed he was human. He twisted his ankle. But this did not stop him from continuing on at a high level.

In the 2nd OT the Q’s again had outscored the Nets 8 - 5 in the first four-and-a-half minutes.

At this point, Dr. J had scored 16 of the Nets 21 points across the 2 overtimes. This was in addition to the 45 points he had scored in regulation.

Dr. J had set a career high of 61 points, surpassing the 58 he had scored in a game when he played for the Virginia Squires in 1973.

With 25 seconds to play the Q’s had the ball and the lead at 152 - 149.

Here’s what happened next as described in a special to the Long Island newspaper, Newsday:

“Mike Gale stole the ball, flipped it to Erving at the three-point line and Erving missed the shot… But Bill Melchionni got possession and hit from the three-point line.”

It was the first three-pointer made by any Nets player in the 58 minutes of game time.

The Nets had tied it up at 152 and the game went on to a 3rd overtime.

In the 3rd extra period, the Nets again fell behind. The Q’s led 161 - 158 with 22 second left when Nets’ guard Brian Taylor nailed a three-pointer. It was just the 2nd three-pointer made by a Nets’ player in the game.

The game was tied at 161. And it was on to a 4th overtime.

In the 3rd and 4th overtimes, Dr. J was in uncharted territory. Erving had never played more than 60 minutes in a game, and going into the 4th overtime he was at 61. No other player had put in over 50 minutes. And Erving was continuing to play, without taking a break, on a damaged ankle.

Dr. J is Human

At the beginning of the 3rd overtime, Q’s coach Beryl Shipley made a defensive change. He put 6 foot 2 inch Warren Jabali on Erving instead of 6 foot 7 inch Travis Grant. The speedy all-star guard, Jabali, has averaged 2 steals a game over the past 3 seasons. Perhaps it was the defensive change, perhaps the sore ankle, or perhaps it was simple fatigue, but Dr. J didn’t score a single point in the entire 3rd overtime.

In the 4th overtime, Jabali continued to shut down the Doctor. With Dr. J unable to perform his usual Houdini-like magic with the basketball, the Q’s outscored the Nets 15 - 3 to open the 4th overtime. Dr. J finally scored one more basket. It was the last basket of the game. And it was meaningless. The Q’s were still 10 points up and won the game 176 - 166.

Q’s’ coach Beryl Shipley told the AP after the game, “I put Warren on Dr. J and he did a hell of a job.”

A Spectacular Game

The game finally ended at 11:15pm PT / 2:15am ET.

For those who got to see it in its entirety, and it had to be very few, they had witnessed something special:

• A career high 63 points by Dr. J

• A career high 66 minutes by Dr. J

• A professional basketball record for combined points in a game of 342

• A professional basketball record for points scored by one team of 176

Forget about the 3rd and 4th overtimes, Dr. J had been nothing short of brilliant in this game.

His stat line looked absurd. In addition to the 63 points, he had shot 25 for 46 on two-point FG attempts, gathered a game-high 23 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists.

After the game, Newsday reported that, “Julius Erving’s feet were swollen.”

Erving told Newsday, “I never saw a game like it and nobody else ever did either.”

Dr. J told the AP, “I’ve never been in a game like this one, and I hope I’m never in one like this again… unless we win. It’s just so disheartening to lose when you put so much into it.”

Commenting on Dr. J’s apparent fatigue in the final overtimes, Nets’ coach Kevin Loughery said, “If Dr. J didn’t get tired, he wouldn’t be human.”

POSTSCRIPT

Dr. J played another 12 years until 1987. But he never again scored over 60 points in a game, grabbed more than 20 rebounds in a game or played more than 51 minutes in a game.

The 342 points of combined scoring remained the pro basketball record for another 8 years until the current record of 370 was set on December 13, 1983 when Detroit beat Denver 186 - 184.

The 176 points by the San Diego Conquistadors remains the 3rd most points ever scored by one team in a professional basketball game.

Thanks for reading.

Please share your comments on this article.