On this day in 1976: The Spurs win their first NBA game — 121-118 over Julius Erving’s 76ers at the Spectrum

Fifty years ago next Thursday, the San Antonio Spurs played their first NBA game — and beat a Philadelphia 76ers team that had just acquired Julius Erving. On Friday, October 22, 1976, at the Spectrum, Billy Paultz scored 27 points, George Gervin added 19 in his NBA debut, and the Spurs outlasted Philadelphia 121-118 in front of 17,196 fans.

It was the night the ABA walked into the NBA for real. Four former ABA clubs — San Antonio, Denver, Indiana and the New York Nets — had joined the league that summer. On this same Friday, all four were on NBA scoreboards, and two future Hall of Famers made their NBA debuts on the same floor in Philadelphia.

• Result: Spurs 121, 76ers 118 — Friday, October 22, 1976, the Spectrum, Philadelphia. Attendance 17,196. San Antonio’s first NBA regular-season game.
• By period: San Antonio 33-21-33-34; Philadelphia 28-24-32-34.
• George Gervin (San Antonio): 19 points (8-17 FG, 3-6 FT), 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 6 fouls in 29 minutes — NBA debut.
• Julius Erving (Philadelphia): 17 points (6-9 FG, 5-13 FT), 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 16 minutes — NBA debut, two days after the 76ers acquired his rights from the Nets.
• Other Spurs leaders: Billy Paultz 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks; James Silas 19 points (13-15 FT), 8 rebounds and 6 assists; Mike Gale 17 points, 7 assists and 4 steals; Larry Kenon 10 points and 9 rebounds; Louie Dampier 8 points in the starting five.
• Other 76ers leaders: Doug Collins 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting with 9 assists in 43 minutes; George McGinnis 29 points and 15 rebounds; Steve Mix 14; World B. Free 10 points and 7 assists.
• The difference: Philadelphia shot better from the field (.544 to .495) but worse from the line (.615 on 52 attempts against San Antonio’s .775 on 40). The Spurs also forced 38 turnovers and recorded 15 steals.

Two leagues, one Spectrum

Gervin was already an ABA star when he walked into the Spectrum that night. Drafted by Phoenix in the third round of the 1974 NBA draft, he had never played an NBA minute. He came over from the Virginia Squires mid-career, flourished in San Antonio’s ABA years, and now had 29 minutes to show what the Iceman looked like under NBA rules. He fouled out of room for more — six fouls in those 29 minutes — but the finger roll and the mid-range game were already there: 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting.

The biggest name in the building had barely unpacked. On October 20, 1976, Philadelphia acquired Erving’s rights from the Nets for a reported $3 million cash deal, a move that left the Nets without their franchise player just as they entered the NBA. Two nights later, Erving came off the bench in a 76ers uniform, played 16 minutes, and still scored 17. He made 6 of 9 from the field and struggled at the line, 5 of 13. It was a short, electric first look at Dr. J in the league that would eventually make him an MVP and a champion.

The Spurs’ supporting cast carried the night when Gervin’s foul trouble limited him. Paultz, the former Nets center known as the “Broadway Contessa,” was almost unstoppable inside: 12 of 15 from the field, 4 blocks. Silas kept the offense afloat from the free-throw line. Gale ran the show. On the bench for nine minutes that night was a reserve named George Karl, who scored 2 points and would later become one of the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches.

The merger arrives in October

The ABA-NBA merger had been sealed in June 1976. The Spurs, Nuggets, Pacers and Nets paid their way into the NBA; the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis did not survive as clubs. The four new teams received no television money for three seasons and were barred from the 1976 draft. Indiana had already opened the ABA alumni account the night before, falling to Boston 129-122 in overtime in the Pacers’ first NBA game at Market Square Arena.

October 22 stacked the rest of the arrivals. In Oakland, the Nets — without Erving — beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors 104-103 behind Tiny Archibald’s 30 points and John Williamson’s 27. Robert Parish played six minutes in his Warriors debut and scored 3. In Indianapolis, Denver beat Indiana 123-110 in the Nuggets’ first NBA game, with Dan Issel scoring 30 and David Thompson adding 19 in his NBA debut. Artis Gilmore, already an ABA legend, posted 21 points and 18 rebounds in his first NBA game for Chicago the same night.

What came next

Doug Moe’s Spurs finished that first NBA season 44-38, third in the Central Division, and lost a first-round series to the Celtics in two games. They led the league in scoring at 115.0 points per game. Gervin averaged 23.1 points as a first-year NBA player and was only getting started: he would win four scoring titles, make nine All-NBA teams, and enter the Hall of Fame in 1996.

Philadelphia recovered from the opening loss. Erving averaged 21.6 points in 1976-77, the 76ers went 50-32, and they reached the NBA Finals before falling to Bill Walton’s Portland Trail Blazers in six games. The Spectrum night that started it all already had the shape of the next decade — Spurs speed, Iceman scoring, and Dr. J in red, white and blue. Box scores and season figures above come from Basketball-Reference.