YouTube Gold: Game 3 Of The 1975 NBA Finals

One of the more surprising finals in NBA History

After the 1976 season, the NBA underwent a massive transformation: it merged with the ABA. This brought Julius Erving, David Thompson and a bunch of guys who were used to a much faster, high-flying game (the three point shot, an ABA signature, would follow in 1979).

In 1975, the NBA was moving towards the modern game, but it was still very much rooted in an older version.

In this video of Game 3 from the 1975 Finals between Golden State and Washington, you see some legendary players: Rick Barry, Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld and others, including former Blue Devil and Warrior Jeff Mullins.

Washington was coached by KC Jones and the GM was Bob Ferry. whose son Danny would be at Duke in about a decade or so.

The Warriors pulled off a considerable upset in this series behind the brittle brilliance of Barry. A complex and demanding teammate, Barry frustrated many people with his perfectionist personality and tendency to be hyper critical. He also tried to get people to shoot free throws underhanded as he did and an 89.3 lifetime free throw percentage does make a good argument. No one was interested though.

The Warriors won the series 4-0. Also notable: this was the first game in major professional sports leagues featuring two Black head coaches.