Milwaukee Bucks: Get to know the 1973-74 team

The Milwaukee Bucks came close to adding a second championship in 1974, making it all the way to The Finals in a standout season.

The Milwaukee Bucks entered the 1973-74 season wrestling with something of a dichotomy. On the positive side of things, the Bucks were the first NBA team ever to have compiled three straight 60-win seasons, but balancing that positivity out was the team’s immense disappointment at just having one championship to show for it.

Speaking of the previous season when the Bucks won 60 games and then lost 4-2 in a first sound series to the Warriors, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Sports Illustrated:

"“We’ve got to be better. We can’t be any worse than we were last year.”More from Bucks HistoryThe 3 biggest “What Ifs” in Milwaukee Bucks’ franchise history6 Underrated Milwaukee Bucks of the Giannis Antetokounmpo eraRanking Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 10 best Bucks teammates of all timeHow well do you know the Milwaukee Bucks’ top 20 career point leaders?Looking at important playoff numbers in Milwaukee Bucks franchise history"

Considering the Bucks went on to win 59 games, one less than the previous year, yet performed significantly better in the playoffs leaves it up to opinion as to whether Abdul-Jabbar and his Milwaukee teammates delivered on that intent to be better.

If anything, for how impressive the Bucks were in 1973-74 and the years that preceded it, it stands as one of the great examples of how, outside of 1971, they just couldn’t put everything together in a fashion befitting of their obvious ability.

If nothing else, the Bucks clearly returned for the 1973-74 season with additional hunger to succeed, and a willingness to adjust to achieve it.

While Abdul-Jabbar, already a two-time MVP, showed up for rookie camp to ensure his own conditioning was at its peak, and Oscar Robertson started the season at his lowest weight since his time in college, coach Larry Costello even made tweaks to his juggernaut system as he reworked the defense to be more aggressive in forcing turnovers with the aim of making up for his team’s rebounding deficiencies.

The numbers suggest those changes certainly didn’t hurt the Bucks, as they replicated their performance of the previous season in allowing just 99.0 points per game, good enough for third best in the NBA that season

On the whole, Milwaukee maintained their overall consistency too. The Bucks’ worst losing streak of the season lasted for just three games, and occurred just once. Speaking with disdain at the prospect of losing three games in a row heading into the loss to the Warriors that led to the only such spell in the season, Robertson told Sports Illustrated:

"“Three [losses] in a row. That would be a long one for us—a disaster.”"

On the positive side of the ledger, the Bucks compiled to winning streaks of 10 games or more, with the lengthier of the two spanning 14 games between October 17 and November 13.

While all of that balanced out at a 59-win season, which would have been a disappointment to the Bucks considering their 60-win habits of previous years, Milwaukee still finished the regular season winning the highly competitive Midwest Division, and entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the West while boasting the league’s best record.

As the postseason got underway, the Bucks got an immediate opportunity to exact revenge on the Lakers, who’d eliminated Milwaukee in the Conference Finals in 1972.

Following a gentleman’s sweep of the Lakers, the Bucks then moved on to a clash with the neighboring Chicago Bulls. Led by Bob Love, the Bulls finished the regular season with 54 wins and the third-best record in the NBA, making the Bucks’ comfortable 4-0 series win over Chicago all the more impressive.

As a result, the Bucks arrived in The Finals with their status as the league’s best team very much apparent, and confidence undoubtedly high following incredibly safe passage through the first two rounds.

Surely, this could only end in a second Bucks championship success, right?

One of the greatest NBA Finals series the league has ever seen had different ideas. Across what proved to be a seven-game epic, neither team managed to win consecutive games, and both the Bucks and Celtics managed just a single win each in front of their home crowd.

Another noteworthy element of the series was the grueling nature of two of Milwaukee’s wins, with the Bucks’ Game 2 victory arriving in overtime, and their Game 6 win coming at the end of double overtime. Considering how the series concluded, it’s safe to say the toll of those two games shouldn’t be overlooked.

One of the few knocks against the great Bucks teams of the 70s is that although their frontline talent was unparalleled, their depth was often inferior to some of their rivals. That certainly came into play in 1974 when Jon McGlocklin struggled through The Finals playing on a calf injury, but perhaps most notably as a torn knee ligament kept Lucius Allen out of action completely.

Allen, who was known for his tenacious and intelligent play, shared a great chemistry with Abdul-Jabbar, and was perfectly suited to soaking up some backcourt minutes behind or alongside the 35-year-old Robertson. Unfortunately for the Bucks, the luxury of Allen’s presence wasn’t afforded to them in the playoffs and his absence was most keenly felt in the Finals.

Allen had suffered the injury in bizarre fashion, landing on a misplaced towel during a game with the Detroit Pistons and subsequently slipping, causing the ligament damage. Legendary Bucks broadcaster Eddie Doucette recalled the incident, and bemoaned it’s impact, in conversation with OnMilwaukee back in 2014.

"“When something like that happens, obviously everybody is upset and disappointed, but the way it happened was really kind of a tragic thing. You take an important piece out and then try and fill in, that’s a huge loss. So, I think yeah, that let a little air out of the balloon.”"

To their credit, the Bucks did everything in their power to overcome any injury issues they were facing, and behind outstanding defense they generally matched Boston blow-for-blow.

As Peter Carry wrote in his feature on the series for Sports Illustrated:

"“The defense, as Milwaukee and Boston played it throughout the series, was indeed the very best. While the Celtics’ press received more notice, it was actually the Bucks that were more unyielding. Milwaukee held Boston, which scored 109 points per game in the regular season, under 100 five times, and in one 100-point game the Celtics needed two overtimes to surpass that figure.”"

There were also great moments on the offensive end, though, including undoubtedly the greatest shot in Bucks history.

With just three seconds remaining in the second overtime period of Game 6, the Bucks trailed by one, and facing elimination, their loosely designed play broke down when the ball failed to reach Mickey Davis, leaving the ball in Abdul-Jabbar’s hands on the baseline. Even as his signature shot, the sky-hook unleashed by Abdul-Jabbar to secure the win, keep the series alive, and deflate the Boston Garden, remains a thing of wonder.

Tying the series at 3-3 in such dramatic fashion and bringing it back to Milwaukee for a home decider, it seemed as if all momentum was stacked in the Bucks’ favor.

Unfortunately, exhaustion had set in for Milwaukee, though. As I detailed in my in-depth look at the 1974 Finals back in 2016, multiple Bucks players entered Game 7 feeling less than confident, and tired more than anything else.

Celtics coach Tommy Heinsohn opted to double team Abdul-Jabbar in Game 7, the first time he’d resorted to that approach in the series, and the Bucks essentially didn’t have anything left in the tank to adjust.

As Abdul-Jabbar later told OnMilwaukee:

"“The last game, I know I was tired. I played two overtime games. It wasn’t there for us to win.”"

That proved to be an understatement as the Bucks got blown out, 102-87, on their home floor, and the Celtics lifted their first championship since the departure of Bill Russell as head coach.

There have been other missed opportunities since, but considering just how good the 1973-74 iteration of the Bucks was, and how close they came to glory, that season still stands as the greatest chance the Bucks have had to add to their championship tally.