1970–71 Kentucky Colonels season


The 1970–71 Kentucky Colonels season was the fourth season of the Colonels in the American Basketball Association. University of Kentucky star Dan Issel was signed by the Colonels. Issel was given a 10-year contract worth $1.4 million, while playing all but one game in the whole season, leading to him being named Rookie of the Year, alongside averaging 29.9 points and 13.2 rebounds per game during the season. Despite a 10-5 record, Rhodes was fired during the season. After having business manager Alex Groza coach the team for 2 games, Frank Ramsey was hired to coach the rest of the season. In the Semifinals, the Colonels beat The Floridians 4 games to 2. In the Eastern Division Finals, they beat the Virginia Squires 4 games to 2. In the ABA Finals, they lost to the Utah Stars in seven games.

Roster

Eastern Division

Playoffs

Eastern Division Semifinals
GameDateLocationScoreRecordAttendance
1April 2Kentucky116–1121–03,182
2April 4Kentucky120–1102–03,881
3April 6Florida102–1202–14,126
4April 8Florida117–1292–24,268
5April 10Kentucky118–1013–24,996
6April 12Florida112–1034–24,478

Colonels win series, 4–2
Eastern Division Finals
GameDateLocationScoreRecordAttendance
1April 15Virginia136–1321–04,250
2April 17Virginia122–1421–15,000
3April 19Kentucky137–1501–24,777
4April 21Kentucky128–1102–25,221
5April 23Virginia115–1073–210,013
6April 24Kentucky129–1174–212,822

Colonels win series, 4–2
ABA Finals
GameDateLocationScoreRecordAttendance
1May 3Utah117–1360–112,051
2May 5Utah125–1380–213,208
3May 7Kentucky116–1101–212,337
4May 8Kentucky129–125 2–29,863
5May 12Utah127–1372–313,260
6May 15Kentucky105–1023–311,793
7May 18Utah121–1313–413,260

Colonels lose series, 4–3

Awards and honors

1971 ABA All-Star Game selections