Fights, drugs, racial tension: ’70s spelled trouble for NBA

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — If there was a decade when the NBA nearly disintegrated under the weight of its own problems, the 1970s was that decade. It was a fight-filled, drug-addled operation that had made Black players an integral part of the show, only to be left wondering if those players were chasing away the fans. The NBA turned 75 this season but had a much different look during the 1970s. It featured a plodding brand of basketball that looked even worse when compared to the game being played by the upstart ABA — a free-flowing, 3-point-shooting fun-fest that wasn’t above using trumped-up contract deals to poach away some of the sport’s most promising talent.