Milwaukee Bucks: 49 years in 49 days

In head coach Del Harris’ second season at the helm, the Milwaukee Bucks made a jump back towards the top of the Eastern Conference.

The season: 1988-89

The record: 49-33

The postseason: 3-6, lost in second round

The story:

The Milwaukee Bucks did not change much between the 1987-88 and 1988-89 season, and that continuity may have helped explain Milwaukee’s rise in wins from one season to the other.

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Del Harris had gotten his first year of head coaching out of the way, and the players got more used to playing with new additions like Jay Humphries, who the Bucks traded Craig Hodges for in February 1988, and Larry Krystkowiak, who had been acquired in November 1987.

Both Humphries and Krystkowiak would end up being key starters on the 1988-89 Bucks, and Humphries especially was a crucial contributor considering the injury problems that still plagued Sidney Moncrief, who was limited to 62 games and under 26 minutes played per game that season.

With Krystkowiak playing as a starter now, the Bucks had become huge. Six players split most of Milwaukee’s starts: Moncrief, Humphries, Paul Pressey, Terry Cummings, Jack Sikma, and Krystkowiak. Three of the six — Cummings, Sikma, and Krystkowiak — were at least 6’9″.

Those same three big men were the three leading Bucks in total minutes played that season, so opponents had to work through the tall trees to make anything happen inside. In a league where three-point shooting had yet to become king, that made for one hell of a defense.

Milwaukee jumped back up to sixth in defensive rating and also points allowed per game after their lapse in the season prior, and the team’s win totals rose as a result. Although the team finished fourth in the NBA’s Central Division, the Bucks won 49 games that year.

Surprisingly, the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls were not one of the three teams in the Central better than Milwaukee that season. Strong Detroit Piston, Cleveland Cavalier, and Atlanta Hawk squads who had been together for a few years stayed winning in ’88-89.

The last of those three teams were the Bucks’ opponent in the first round of the 1989 NBA Playoffs. The Hawks had dispatched the Bucks in five games in the previous postseason’s first round, and this series would go for just as long.

Dominique Wilkins and the Hawks took down the Bucks in Game 1, winning by eight points on their home floor. The series was not off to a great start for Milwaukee. Terry Cummings came through big in a victorious Game 2 effort, but the real hero of the series for the Bucks had to be Ricky Pierce, who dropped 35 in a Game 3 win for Milwaukee.

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Without starting a single game Pierce led the Bucks in scoring against Atlanta, posting 22.2 points per game. Pierce put up another 22 in Game 4, but the Hawks ended up winning. With the series tied at 2-2, Game 5 would decide the winner of the series.

Wilkins and Moses Malone, now a Hawk, both torched Milwaukee, but on the whole the Bucks’ defense held up. Pierce poured in another 25 points, and the Bucks were on their way to the second round.

Unfortunately, the Bucks were yet again unhealthy. T.C. sprained his ankle badly enough to require a cast during the Hawks series, and missed the first two games of Milwaukee’s next one, against the dominant Detroit Pistons.

The Bucks lost those two games. Cummings suited up for Game 3, but managed only four points in 17 minutes. Without his scoring boost, Milwaukee had no shot against the eventual league champion Milwaukee Bucks.

Next: 49 years in 49 days: 1987-88 season

Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and the Pistons swept Milwaukee, and the Bucks were off to yet another offseason after a sad end to their postseason.