1970 ABA Playoffs

The 1970 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1969–70 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Indiana Pacers defeating the Western Division champion Los Angeles Stars, four games to two in the ABA Finals.

The Indiana Pacers finished the season with the league's best regular season record (59–25, .702) before going on to win the ABA championship. This same feat was accomplished by the Oakland Oaks during the prior season and by the Pittsburgh Pipers in the year before that.

The Pacers became the first ABA champions to return in the same form for the following season. The Oakland Oaks became the Washington Caps for the 1969–1970 ABA season; the Pittsburgh Pipers had become the Minnesota Pipers after winning the ABA championship the prior season.

Roger Brown of Indiana was the Most Valuable Player of the ABA playoffs. Brown averaged 28.5 points, 3rd best among all postseason players to go along with playing 46.2 minutes per game (2nd) while going 151-of-318 in field goal attempts (3rd best in each category).

Bracket

Division Semifinals

Western Division Semifinals

(1) Denver Rockets vs. (3) Washington Caps

(2) Dallas Chaparrals vs. (4) Los Angeles Stars

Eastern Division Semifinals

(1) Indiana Pacers vs. (3) Carolina Cougars

(2) Kentucky Colonels vs. (4) New York Nets

Division Finals

Western Division Finals

(1) Denver Rockets vs. (4) Los Angeles Stars

Eastern Division Finals

(1) Indiana Pacers vs. (2) Kentucky Colonels

ABA Finals: (W4) Los Angeles Stars vs. (E1) Indiana Pacers

Favored to win by members of the press to win the series, the Pacers ultimately pulled away in the fourth quarter.

The game was broadcast on CBS, although it was blacked out in Indianapolis. The Stars led 66-56 early in the third quarter before Bob Netolicky came off the bench and managed to hit on ten straight shots as the Pacers eventually tied the game at 94 with 8:31 to go. The teams traded leads eight times before Roger Brown hit the go-ahead shot to give Indiana a 111-108 lead. The Stars got the deficit to one on a goaltending call with 34 seconds to go and then got the ball back on a missed shot with less than 20 seconds to go and called timeout. They tried a shot to go for the win but missed while Netolicky got the rebound and was then fouled by Willie Wise (his fifth) as Netolicky made the free throws to end the scoring.

Behind the largest crowd of the season for the Stars (5,780), the team trailed by 21 at the end of the first quarter and 10 at the start of the fourth quarter but rode the shooting of George Stone and Trooper Washington to win the game. Stone scored 27 of his 34 points in the second half while Washington defended Daniels in the second half that saw the Stars go on a 25-2 run to start the fourth quarter. Stone scored the go-ahead shot with 7:33 remaining as the Stars held on and had Indiana not make a field goal until 1:59 remained in the game.

Roger Brown scored 53 points to set a then-ABA playoff record for points in one game (Rick Barry previously held the mark with 52 points in the First Round matchup), with 33 of them coming in the second half. He went 15-of-21 on field goals with three made three-pointers. The Pacers, going with Leonard's strategy to go to Brown on one-on-one situations, went from having an 85-83 lead with 4:50 to go in the third quarter to being up 108-94 by the end of the third quarter and the Pacers held on from there. Brown's 53 points in a playoff game is still a franchise record.

Facing elimination on a nationally televised game (which was once again blacked out in Indianapolis), the Stars delayed their elimination with an overtime victory. The Pacers led 86-78 with eleven minutes to go, but the Stars roared back to tie the game multiple times before grabbing the lead with five minutes to go, having gone on a 21-9 run in nearly six minutes. Indiana responded with five straight points to get the lead back as the teams went back and forth. John Barnhill had a chance to increase the lead when it was 105-104 for Indiana but missed them both (going 1-of-6 on the day). Bob Netolicky gave the Pacers a 107-105 lead with free throws and 34 seconds left, but Merv Jackson tied the game on a 20-foot shot with 16 seconds to tie the game again. With the game tied, Roger Brown tried to end the game with a 10-foot jumper with time expiring but the ball rolled around the rim and fell out, forcing overtime. The Pacers led 110-109 with 4:32 to go, but the Stars took control from there, with Mack Calvin giving the Stars the lead for good with 2:46 to go. The Pacers had one more chance when down 115-114 and Brown on the free-throw line to shoot his second free throw, which he intentionally missed to try and rebound it, but George Stone recovered it while Calvin sank free throws to end the scoring. Calvin scored 33 points to lead the Stars in scoring.

The Pacers elected to go with a seven-man roster for Game 6 (with Roger Brown and Freddie Lewis both playing 48 minutes each) and used it to battle tough with the Stars, who lost center Craig Raymond to a severely sprained right ankle early in the second half that head coach Bill Sharman played a key difference, particularly on boards. The Stars got the deficit down to 106-105 before Freddie Lewis hit a 14-foot shot with 18 seconds left to give them a three-point lead. The Pacers then closed out the scoring with free throws as Indiana clinched their first ever professional sports championship.

In what became a general tradition, offers by the ABA champion to the NBA champion were made and rejected. In the afternoon hours of May 27, 1970, the Pacers arrived back in Indianapolis to be greeted by a thousand fans at the airport. The team then received a motorcade as Indianapolis held a downtown ceremony that saw nearly 5,000 people celebrate on Monument Circle that saw speeches from the team and state Governor Edgar Whitcomb, who proclaimed the team as "the world champions of basketball".

After the series ended, Bill Daniels, who bought the Stars mid-season and aimed to relocate the team, finally made his decision. It was reported during the series that he would not move the team to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with reports stating that the two finalists were between Anaheim, California (one of the myriad of Southern California arenas they currently used as a home court) and Salt Lake City, Utah. On June 11, less than a month after Game 6, the Stars elected to move to Salt Lake City, Utah. Two members of the Pacers eventually made the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Mel Daniels (2012) and Roger Brown (2013), while both head coaches from the series in Bill Sharman (2004) and Bobby Leonard (2014) also were later inducted.