The Milwaukee Bucks had one of their best years in the franchise’s history during the 1980-81 season.
The season: 1980-81
The record: 60-22
The postseason: 3-4, lost in second round
The story:
Thanks largely to a significant amount of internal improvement, the Milwaukee Bucks became one of the NBA’s best teams during the 1980-81 regular season. The Bucks won 60 games that year for the first time since 1972-73, meaning the ’80-81 team was the first in Milwaukee to reach that milestone without the help of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Marques Johnson reached new heights as a passer in his fourth season, averaging a career-best 4.6 assists per game. He had plenty of other numbers to go with that assists figure, as Marques averaged 20.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals as well.
In an exciting and telling development, Sidney Moncrief would play nearly as many minutes per game as Marques as he emerged as a standout player. It would be a year or two before Moncrief really popped, but he got valuable reps during the 1980-81 season on a helluva team.
Bob Lanier, Junior Bridgeman, and Quinn Buckner largely continued their strong play from the season before, with Bridgeman becoming Milwaukee’s second-leading scorer at 16.8 points per game and the Dobber dominating on defense while averaging 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game in just over 26 minutes.
Brian Winters, who had been a consistent scoring presence for the Bucks since he was obtained in the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade, saw a reduction in role and production this season. He dropped to seventh on the team in minutes per game, and scored less than 12 points per contest.
The one new player to have a meaningful role in Milwaukee in the 1980-81 season would be Mickey Johnson. Acquired in a trade with the Indiana Pacers, Johnson had an immediate impact on his new team. He put up 12.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game in his first Bucks season.
With so many productive players in his rotation, Don Nelson had himself a hell of a squad. Milwaukee never lost more than two consecutive games, and only the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers would rack up more wins in the 1980-81 regular season.
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Since they won their division, the Bucks got a bye in the first round of the postseason. Unfortunately, that meant the 62-win Philadelphia 76ers were their playoff opponent after they swept the Indiana Pacers in a three-game series.
The Sixers had Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, and Darryl Dawkins, but were unquestionably led by one-time Bucks draft pick Julius Erving. Dr. J may have been 30 years old at the time, but he still was able to carve up Milwaukee’s defense time and time again.
Erving and Marques both averaged exactly 24.7 points per game in the series, which saw their teams swap wins throughout. Much like the 1974 NBA Finals, that didn’t work out well for Milwaukee, since their opponent won Game 1.
Next: 49 years in 49 days: 1979-80 season
It was a sudden and sad end to a historically-good season, but as discussed recently on the Win in 6 podcast, Milwaukee’s Eastern Conference opponents were tremendously talented in the 1980s. Their early postseason exits would not end with the 1981 NBA Playoffs.