Carolina Cougars
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Carolina Cougars was a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association that existed from late 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina in late 1969 after three forgettable seasons in Houston at the Sam Houston Coliseum. The Cougars' colors were green, blue, and white.
History
The history of the Carolina Cougars franchise began when the former Houston ABA franchise was relocated to North Carolina in 1969. During the 1970s, North Carolina did not have a large primary metropolitan area to base a professional sports franchise, so the team's ownership decided to have the teams play its home games in Charlotte at the Charlotte Coliseum, Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum, and Raleigh at the Dorton Arena and Reynolds Coliseum as a regional team.Early on, the Carolina Cougars were not especially successful on the court, posting a 42-42 record in the 1969-1970 season, a 34-50 record in 1970-1971, and a 35-49 record in 1971-1972. Only the '69-'70 Cougars managed to make the ABA playoffs but lost in the Eastern Division Semifinals (first round) to a much stronger Indiana Pacers team. In spite of this, the Cougars had a good fan following, particularly in Greensboro.
In 1972-1973, the Carolina Cougars hired retired ABA players Larry Brown and former Cougar Doug Moe as coaches. The '72-'73 Cougars were fairly talented and featured players Billy Cunningham, Joe Caldwell, and Mack Calvin. All three appeared in the ABA All-Star Game that season, and Cunningham was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Carolina went on to post a 57-27 record, which was the best in the ABA. The Cougars beat the New York Nets in their first-round playoff series 4-1, but lost a close series to the Kentucky Colonels 4-3 in the Eastern Division finals.
The 1973-1974 season proved to be the last for the Carolina Cougars in North Carolina. Due to injuries and internal squabbles, the '73-'74 Cougars posted a 47-37 record but was swept in the Eastern Division semifinals 4-0 by the Kentucky Colonels. Later in 1974, the Carolina Cougars were moved to Missouri and became the Spirits of St. Louis until the ABA folded in 1976. The Cougars were moderately successful overall and had more supportive fans than many other ABA franchises; nonetheless, even those elements were not enough to keep the Cougars from relocating. Professional basketball would return to North Carolina in 1988 when the Charlotte Hornets entered the NBA, but the Hornets would eventually move to New Orleans in 2002. The NBA returned to Charlotte two years later when Charlotte Bobcats began their inaugural NBA season in 2004-2005.
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