ABA Finals: (W1) Oakland Oaks vs. (E1) Indiana Pacers
In the second half of the season,
Gary Bradds had taken over for an injured Rick Barry and acquired the nickname of "super sub". In Game 1, the "super sub" scored 40 points while going 16-of-25 with a perfect eight-for-eight from the free throw line as Oakland's fast break offense eventually pressed over Indiana in the final quarter. The trio of
Roger Brown,
Bob Netolicky, and
Freddie Lewis scored 110 points as the Pacers ran rough-shod over Oakland, scoring 40 points in the second quarter to lead by 23 at halftime. League MVP
Mel Daniels had gone to the bench at the end of the first quarter with four fouls that led to their coach going to Netolicky to play center for the next two quarters, which resulted in him scoring 36 points. The Pacers won their first game over Oakland this year, having lost all six regular season matchups that year. A tight game saw 14 ties and a few lead changes that saw Oakland lead by six with just seven minutes to go before
Freddie Lewis stoked a 10–0 run to give them a 109–105 lead. With the Pacers leading 117–115,
Roger Brown had a chance at the free-throw line to give them a bigger lead. However, he could only make one free throw and
Gary Bradds recovered the rebound on the last miss and called time out to give Oakland the ball at the backcourt of Indiana with time expiring.
Warren Jabali then posted up for a three-pointer and hit from over 25 feet out to send the game into overtime (he had just made two of his last 16 shots from the three-line). The teams traded baskets in overtime before Oakland finally pulled away. With the score 126–125, Doug Moe hit two free throws before Jabali then hit a 22-foot shot to increase the lead to five as the Oaks eventually won by eight. Fans in Indiana were so emotional at the defeat that they apparently focused their attention on referees Ron Rakel and Andy Hershock and raised hands at them, with Rakel getting a cut lip. The two teams exchanged leads seven times in the first eight minutes before
Doug Moe pulled Oakland ahead for good with a shot to make it 17–16 as Oakland would proceed to lead by 10 at halftime and by 30 at the close of the third quarter. Over 6,000 fans watched a climatic finish, among the biggest crowds attracted to see an Oaks game. The game went into overtime after
Warren Jabali could only make one free throw to give Oakland a two-point lead before
Ron Perry made two-of-three free throws (after being fouled by
Ira Harge on a three-pointer shot) to create overtime. The Oaks, leading 131–130, were then boosted by
Doug Moe making two free throws before getting the ball back after Roger Brown missed a shot before the ball eventually made it to
Larry Brown, who was fouled with 14 seconds remaining to sink two more free throws to clinch the game. Following the conclusion of the championship series, the Oaks were slated to have been the first ABA champion to ask for a competitive championship match against the NBA champions, which became the
Boston Celtics. However, the Celtics would immediately reject to the idea, though the notion of the ABA champion asking the NBA champion to compete against each other to find out who the ultimate champion in the sport of basketball would supposedly continue beyond the Oaks with every other ABA champion presumably trying and failing to get a championship match-up to go down between each other, with the most famous attempt occurring in 1975. The game turned out to be the last one played in Oakland. On August 21, 1969, the team was sold to
Earl Foreman, who moved the team to
Washington, D.C. in the summer despite owners Ken Davidson and
Pat Boone saying differently in the title celebration (
Rick Barry, who did not play the ABA Finals due to injury, claimed that Boone told him that the Oaks would never leave Oakland). It was later revealed in the book
Loose Balls that the championship ring that was acquired by the Oaks' owners was accidentally written on a blank check as $1.5 million for his bank to spend on, which also helped lead to the Oaks franchise being sold off to Foreman that year. ==Statistical leaders==