By Matthew Lippe
When looking at certain franchises, there are certain teams fans immediately consider when thinking about “winning”. The Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, Pistons, and Heat are ones that come to mind. But after these 6 teams, championships begin to thin out. Take the Milwaukee Bucks for instance. They have been around for 51 years, but have only one championship to their name, one that is many times lost in the peak of New York Knicks basketball. Today, I will look back at the 1970-1971 Milwaukee Bucks and what made them one of the most dominant championship teams of all-time.
During the 1968-69 season, the Bucks were in their inagural season. With an average age of around 26 on the roster, the team faced some serious growing pains as they would go 27-55. However, this poor first season allowed for the Bucks to be in prime position for a great draft.
They hit the jackpot that off season, grabbing the Number 1 overall pick. There are times in NBA history when there is no doubt of who should be taken first overall. The 1974 draft with Bill Walton, 1979 with Magic Johnson, 1985 with Patrick Ewing, 1992 with Shaq, 2003 with LeBron, and heck you could make a case for the 2019 NBA draft with Zion Williamson. The 1969 NBA Draft was one of these cases and the prized possession was Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) from UCLA. Standing at 7-2, Jabbar was a force at UCLA, leading the Bruins to 3 straight titles and averaging 26.4* points and 15.5 rebounds over his 3 seasons. So when the Bucks selected Kareem, they knew they were getting a dominant player, but Kareem surpassed all of their wildest dreams.
However, while Kareem was the “crown jewel” of the off season, there was another important acquisation that many times go unnoticed: Bob Dandridge or the “Diamond in the Rough”. Dandrdge was selected in the 4th round by the Bucks and it would turn out to be a steal, as Bobby D would go on to have an extremely successful career (4x all-star, 1x All-D, 2x Champ and a guy who could easily give you 20 points and 7 rebounds every night in his prime).
The following season was a major improvement for the Bucks, as Kareem would lead the way, averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds. The Bucks would finish the season 56-26 and would gain some important playoff experience. In the first round, they would beat the 76ers 4-1, a team which included NBA greats, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham. The young duo of Jabbar and Dandridge rasied their games to another level, as both improved their scoring average by 6 points to combine for 55 points per game (both were 22 at the time which is unbelievable!). However the next round would prove difficult as the Bucks would lose 1-4 against the eventual NBA champions New York Knicks. None the less, this was a great oppurtunity for the Bucks to see the mindset of a championship team and this would help them to see where they needed to improve: the point guard position.
With a solid front court of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob Dandridge, the Bucks needed a player in the back court who could help elviate some of the pressure. This player would be Oscar Robertson.
The point guard for the Bucks during the season prior was Flynn Robinson. Robinson was a very good point guard (averaged 21 points and 5 rebounds for the Bucks and was a phenominal free throw shooter) but was not on the same level as the Big O. As his nickname details, Mr. Triple Double could fulfill any need that a team would need and this was exactly the type of player that would take the Bucks from playoff team to NBA contender.
During the 1970-71 NBA season, the Bucks were basically unstoppable. They would go 66-16 (16th best regular season record all-time) and would grab the Number 1 seed in the Western Conference (they had not moved to the Eastern Conference yet).
As team had dominated the regular season, they did so in the playoffs as well, going 12-2. And this is not saying the competition they played were bad by any measures, as they beat the Warriors with Nate Thurmond and Jerry Lucas, the Lakers with Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich, and the Bullets with Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld.
The most memorable playoff series of this run was actually not the Finals, but the Western Conference Finals, where a 23 year old Kareem would face off against a 34 year old Wilt Chamberlain. This series can be seen as the “passing of the guard” of centers, as the former unstoppable force of Wilt Chamberlain came up against the new young center in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After the 1970-71 season, Chamberlain would never average over 15 points in a season and would be out of the league in 2 seasons.
The 1970-71 Bucks were a dominant force that took over the league by storm and it emphasizes how much of a difference one player can make; the upgrade from Flynn to Oscar helped the team go to another level.
After the championship, the Bucks would be extremely competitive for the next 3 seasons, making the playoffs each year. In the 1973-74 season, the Bucks would make the Finals again but would lose to the Boston Celtics in 7 games. After this season, the Bucks would never really be the same. The Big O would retire and the Bucks would miss the playoffs for the first time since their inagural season. Kareem would then leave in the off-season and head to the Lakers, where he would spend his final 14 seasons and win 5 more championships.
*All stats via Basketball Reference