Winner Take All: A History of Nets Elimination Games

Jason Kidd
Didn’t end as planned. (AP)

April 29, 1970 Game 7: Kentucky Colonels 112, New York Nets 101

Basketball cards were so much better back then.
The Nets first franchise playoff series in 1970 had both their first playoff OT game and the first Game 7. The New York Nets made the ABA playoffs as the fourth and final seed in the Eastern Conference with a 39-45 record. The ABA had a rather liberal playoff system in which 2/3 of the teams made the playoffs, including Will Ferrel’s fictitious Flint Tropics one season.  In an odd playoff structure where the first seed played the third seed and the second seed played the fourth seed, the fourth-seeded Nets played the second-seeded Kentucky Colonels in the first round.

After taking a surprising 3-2 series lead, the Nets blew Game 6 at home 116-113, despite a game-high 28 points from Nets center Les Hunter. Unlike the excessive rest days in the current NBA playoff schedule, the Nets immediately traveled back down to Louisville, KY for Game 7 the next day. In front of 2,876 fans at the Louisville Convention Center, the Colonels eliminated the Nets 112-101.

Brooklyn native and Nets small forward Sonny Dove led all scorers with 24 points in defeat.

Next: May 4, 1972