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Milwaukee Bucks: 49 years in 49 days – 1971-72 season

By Ti Windisch

MILWAUKEE - 1973: Kareem Abdul Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks puts up a shot against Wilt Chamberlain #13 of the Los Angeles Lakers circa 1973 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1973 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE - 1973: Kareem Abdul Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks puts up a shot against Wilt Chamberlain #13 of the Los Angeles Lakers circa 1973 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1973 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Milwaukee Bucks found out that the only thing harder than winning a championship is defending one during the 1971-72 NBA season.

The season: 1971-72

The record: 63-19

The postseason: 6-4, lost in second round

The story:

At some point, the Milwaukee Bucks had to stop adding wins to their previous season’s total. The franchise’s first three seasons saw the Bucks steadily win more and more games, until this year, the first since the team reached the promised land and collected an NBA title.

It’s pretty hard to complain about Milwaukee’s regular season in 1971-72, though. The team did still win 63 games and never lost more than two consecutive games. The Bucks Big 3 at the time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Bob Dandridge, continued to be better than most of the NBA could handle in this season.

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Kareem, fresh off of an MVP season, continued to prove he was the next dominant center for opposing teams to fear. Abdul-Jabbar averaged 34.8 points, 16.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game in the ’71-72 season. Kareem’s excellence propelled him to another MVP award, meaning at the time he had more seasons with MVP honors than without them.

Although he was quite literally the centerpiece, Kareem was not alone in all of those wins. Oscar Robertson, although past his prime, continued to play really effective basketball in Milwaukee. The Big O averaged 17.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in his 12th NBA season, and was named an All-Star for the 12th straight time.

This would be Oscar’s last All-Star season, as the 33-year-old guard accumulated a lot of miles in his tenure with the Cincinnati Royals.

Kareem’s rookie classmate, Bob Dandridge, continues to play at a high level as well. Bobby D put up 18.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game in his third season, serving as a perfect complement to Kareem and Oscar.

While the Big 3 stayed largely the same, Milwaukee’s firm grip on the top spot in the NBA power rankings started to loosen in the 1971-72 season. The Bucks remained the best defense in the Association, but lost their offensive rating crown to the Los Angeles Lakers, who were also the only team to win more games that year than Milwaukee.

Propelled by Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, and Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers posed a powerful threat to the Bucks. Because Milwaukee was somehow in the Western Conference at the time, the Bucks had to go through Los Angeles to get to the NBA Finals again.

Milwaukee made short work of the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs, but then ran into L.A. in the second. Surprisingly, some younger players made a lot of noise for both sides.

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Robertson averaged just nine points per game, but the Bucks got production from the point guard spot courtesy of Lucius Allen, who had arrived from Seattle the season before, just in time to win a ring with the Bucks. Allen put up over 17 points per game in a hell of a coming out party that series.

On the other side of things, the Bucks had to withstand the Lakers’ Big 3, plus a scoring clinic put on by Jim McMillian. McMillian, known as Butterball among his teammates, led the Lakers in scoring that series despite coming in third among Lakers in the stat during the regular season. He dumped 22.7 points per game on the Bucks.

Kareem, of course, was the best player on either team in the series. He put up 33.7 points and who knows how many other statistics that weren’t kept as closely back then. In what was a sad reoccurring theme for the 1970s Bucks, Kareem’s huge performances weren’t enough, and the Lakers won the series in six.

Next: 49 years in 49 days: 1970-71 season

The Lakers went on to win another title that postseason, and plenty more over the next several decades. The Milwaukee Bucks went on to…do other stuff.

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