Darnell Hillman and Billy Keller. "Gus came to us at the end of his career when he had lost a lot of his physical abilities, but he really wanted a shot at making a run at a championship," recalled Darnell Hillman of Johnson's influence on the Pacers. "And his coming to the team made us that much more solid. He was a great, great individual. The locker room was where he was really an asset. He always knew the right things to say and he could read people. He knew who would be a little bit off or down and he could just bring you right back into focus and send you out on the floor. He was also very instrumental in being like an assistant coach to Slick on the bench. Sometimes when Slick didn't go to the assistant coach, he'd ask Gus." In the ABA playoffs, Johnson and the Pacers defeated the Denver Rockets and Ralph Simpson 4-1 and the Utah Stars with Hall of Famer Zelmo Beaty and ironman Ron Boone 4-2 to advance to the ABA Finals against the Kentucky Colonels with Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and Louie Dampier. In the 1973 ABA Finals, the Pacers defeated the Colonels 4-3 to capture the ABA championship, with Johnson playing 13 minutes and grabbing 6 rebounds in the decisive game seven, an 88-81 Pacers victory at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. It was Johnson's final career game. Overall, Johnson averaged 2.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in the Finals off the bench. Injuries limited Johnson's pro basketball career to 10 seasons. Death Shortly before his death from inoperable brain cancer, his no. 25 was retired by the Washington Bullets on his 48th birthday. Upon Johnson’s death, Bullets owner Abe Pollin remarked "Gus was the Dr. J of his time, and anyone who had the privilege of seeing him play will never forget what a great basketball player Gus Johnson was." A month later he was also honored by the two college programs he played for, Boise State and Idaho, during a conference basketball game between the two teams on January 17, 1987. A crowd of 12,225 at the BSU Pavilion in Boise set a Big Sky attendance record for a regular season game, and the visiting Vandals overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half to win by ten. That month in a ceremony in Akron,