A look back at the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks NBA Championship Season

The NBA has plans to resume the 2019-2020 season in Orlando in late July, Covid-19 permitting. The top seed in terms of the playoffs when and if the season resumes, is the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have won only one NBA title during their existence, which dates back to the 1968-19 season. With resumption of play for this season still over a month off–we hope it will resume–here’s a look back at the Bucks’ 1970-71 season and lone NBA Championship:

By any standards, the 1969-70 Milwaukee Bucks had an outstanding season for a team in only its second year of existence. After selecting center Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) with the first overall pick in the 1969 draft, the Bucks improved from a record of 27-55 in their initial season of 1968-69 to 56-26 in 1969-70. The Bucks lost to the eventual NBA Champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals four games to one.

The Bucks future looked bright, but Milwaukee had a young team with several players besides Alcindor having only a year or two of NBA experience. The Bucks needed a veteran playmaker and leader to take the team to the next level. On April 21st, 1970, Milwaukee made a trade for the player they needed, and acquired veteran guard Oscar Robertson from the Cincinnati Royals (today’s Sacramento Kings).

The 1970-71 Regular Season

The NBA added three expansion teams after the 69-70 season, divided into two conferences each with two divisions. Milwaukee was placed in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. The Bucks opened their 1970-71 NBA season October 17th with a victory over the Atlanta Hawks. That was followed by a loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Bucks then won 16 games in a row before losing back to back games against the defending NBA Champion New York Knicks on November 27 and 28th. They would not lose two in a row again until March.

The Bucks dominated the opposition all season. A ten game winning streak in January put the teams’ record at 39-7. Between February 6th and March 8th, the Milwaukee Bucks won 20 games in a row, setting what was at that time an NBA record for consecutive wins. The Bucks finished with a record of 66-16, winning the Midwest Division and Western Division crowns with the best record in the NBA.

The Bucks played well on both offense and defense, scoring a league best 118.4 points per game, while holding the opposition to 106.2 points, the third fewest points allowed. Alcindor led the league in scoring, averaging 31.7 points per game. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. Robertson averaged 19.4 points per game and had 668 assists, second most in the NBA. Forwards Bob Dandridge and Greg Smith averaged 18.4 and 11.7 points per game respectively. Robertson’s partner in the backcourt, Jon McGlocklin, averaged 15.9. The NBA did not have the three point field goal until 1979, or scoring averages for several players would have been higher. McGlocklin in particular made a lot of his shots from what would be three point range today.

The 1970-71 NBA Playoffs

The Milwaukee Bucks domination continued into the playoffs. First, they took care of the San Francisco (now Golden State) Warriors four games to one. The game five clincher was a 136-86 blowout. They moved on to the next round against the Los Angeles Lakers. With Jerry West, who led the Lakers in scoring during the regular season out with an injury, Los Angeles was no match for Milwaukee and the Bucks won the series four games to one. Each Bucks victory was by an average of 18 points. Then it was on to the NBA Finals against the Eastern Conference champion Baltimore Bullets (today’s Washington Wizards).

While the Bucks had an easy time of it in their first two series, the Bullets played seven games in both of theirs. Injuries had taken a toll on Baltimore with Earl Monroe, Wes Unseld and Gus Johnson all dealing with injuries in the Finals. It was no contest as the surging Bucks swept Baltimore in four games.

The Milwaukee Bucks had won the NBA Championship in just their third year of existence. They reached the NBA Finals again in the 1973-74 season and lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics. Oscar Robertson retired in 1974, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Lakers a year later, and the Bucks have yet to make another appearance in the NBA Finals.