ABA: Utah are Number One!

For the second consecutive year the Utah Stars have the honour of being the number one seed in the ABA conference!  By beating the Portland Trailblazers on day 156 of the season by 32 points they became the first team hailing from Utah to top the 60 win barrier and also the first time long-time GM and coach Nige Young has achieved this feat despite involvement with the New York Knicks in the UBAS where they won the crown in season 2.

National reporter Dan Kik reported on the game:

(60-22)  Utah Stars      35   38   37   31   -   141  (Oscar Robertson 26)
(19-61)  Portland Trailb 20   29   34   26   -   109  (Jim Barnett 13)
I came close to calling the final 7 games for the Stars.  I said they'd win all 7 but they stumbled against the Suns at home.  Either way they still finish with the best record in the ABA and hit the 60 win mark on the season.  Oscar has played wonderfully since joining the Stars as his 3rd and final team this season. Struggled to be a star in the 2 teams prior but is loving being the 5th guy for the Stars.

Dan hits it on the head - a few stumbles here and there but they've been one of the top 5 in the league pretty much all year and finish the top-rated team in the ABA edging out the Baltimore Claws and Virginia Squires.  Oscar Robertson has indeed been playing great basketball for the Stars and has really enjoyed playing alongside Magic Johnson.

The playoffs begin now.  Despite league success over the last couple of years, the Stars have been somewhat disappointing in the pointy end of the season; last year they took their eye of the ball and lost to a surprising Dallas outfit in the conference semis just when it looked like their path had been clear to go to the finals.  Hopefully this year the playoffs will be a different stage.

The first round opponent still isn't quite set between Annaheim and Oakland.  Given the choice we'd probably take Annaheim as we've cruised over them relatively easy this year whereas Oakland always give us a hard battle - probably due to my old team mate Tony Morris getting up for games against us even when his team is struggling.  Only a few years ago Tony's Oaks went all the way to the Finals with an 8th seeded team so they sure are dangerous.

That said when you're starting 5 has Magic, Oscar, Dr J and Duncan in it there can be no excuses.  We have to go out there and perform to back up a stellar season.

Go Stars!