Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association
What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.\ The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still — decades later...
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What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still — decades later — just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports — told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons. Publishers Weekly Pluto, sports journalist for the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal , coauthored such bestsellers as Forty-Eight Minutes , with Bob Ryan, and Tark , with Jerry Tarkanian. This time, however, he will disappoint his readers. The story of the ABA--which lasted from 1967 to 1976, spawned such stars as Julius Erving and Moses Malone, and originated the three-point shot as well as the annual slam-dunk contest--should be an absorbing one, but it falls victim to Pluto's odd approach. Having interviewed many of the owners, managers, players, officials and commentators involved in the league, he cuts up their comments into short snippets (some only two or three sentences long) and arranges them according to a roughly chronological scenario. The resulting discontinuous, herky-jerky text is difficult to follow. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)
IntroductionCast of CharactersYear-by-Year Standings and Franchise HistoriesABA Team LogosProloguePart I: Opening GambitsBirth PangsThe BallThe First JumperThe Shakeout BeginsFinding PlayersOpening TipThe 3-PointerLarry and DougThe HawkBad Times in OaklandFirst-Year Notebook: 1967-68The $1.3 Million Glass Ring: An ABA "Success" StoryThe Leaders CrumbleSecond-Year Notebook: 1968-69Saved from the BrinkWashington: First in War, First in Peace, and Third in the Western Division?Sideshow in MiamiThird-Year Notebook: 1969-70Raiding the RefsThe Indiana Pacers: The Boston Celtics of the ABAPart II: Middle GameStar WarsFourth-Year Notebook: 1970-1971The Stars Rise in L.A., but Shine in UtahThe Meanest Men in the ABAFifth-Year Notebook: 1971-72Enter the DoctorFrom the Sublime to...Johnny NeumannMemphis FolliesSixth-Year Notebook: 1972-73Carolina: Where the Cougars RoamedWendell Ladner: An ABA OriginalSeventh-Yearh Notebook: 1973-74Coach ChamberlainDoctor J and the RestThe RivalryA Big Move Spurs a Texas RevivalPart III: EndGameThe Legend of Doctor JMoses Malone: The Ultimate UnderclassmanThe Kentucky Colonels: The ABA's Frontline TeamEighth-Year Notebook: 1974-75The Wildest Team of Them All
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Pluto, sports journalist for the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal , coauthored such bestsellers as Forty-Eight Minutes , with Bob Ryan, and Tark , with Jerry Tarkanian. This time, however, he will disappoint his readers. The story of the ABA--which lasted from 1967 to 1976, spawned such stars as Julius Erving and Moses Malone, and originated the three-point shot as well as the annual slam-dunk contest--should be an absorbing one, but it falls victim to Pluto's odd approach. Having interviewed many of the owners, managers, players, officials and commentators involved in the league, he cuts up their comments into short snippets (some only two or three sentences long) and arranges them according to a roughly chronological scenario. The resulting discontinuous, herky-jerky text is difficult to follow. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalThe ABA was born in 1967 and in nine tumultuous seasons introduced such legendary stars as Julius Erving, Connie Hawkins, George Gervin, and Moses Malone. Pluto, a basketball writer for the Akron Beacon Journal , spins an irreverent history in interview format of the league with the three-point shot, the slam dunk contest, the red, white, and blue ball. The ABA saga includes unsettled finances, ever-changing teams, and constant war with the more established National Basketball Association. As well as the stars, we meet the owners (Earl Foreman, John Y. Brown, and Charles O. Finley), the coaches (Hubie Brown, brother Larry Brown, Bob Bass, and Slick Leonard), the bad boys (Warren Jabali and John Brisker), the characters (Wendell Ladner and Marvin Barnes), and dozens of others. Well-told by participants, this is a history laced with humor from a league filled with fun. A must for any basketball fan and highly recommended for all libraries.-- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.\ \
