Milwaukee Bucks: Ranking the 10 greatest seasons in franchise history
By Adam McGee
Honorable Mention 1: 1979-80 season
49-33, lost 4-3 in Conference Semi-Finals
The 1979-80 season acted as the dawn of a new golden era of Bucks basketball, bringing to an end a darker spell that was considerably brief compared to the standards Milwaukee’s fans would have to get used to decades later.
Notching up 49 wins in the regular season, the Bucks produced their most successful campaign since the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade, and perhaps most impressively of all they did so as the seeds sewn in that deal’s return started to flourish.
Not only were players like Marques Johnson, Brian Winters and Junior Bridgeman starting to thrive as their time in Milwaukee progressed, but the additions of Sidney Moncrief and Quinn Buckner as rookies set the table for the sustained success that lay ahead. The addition of All-Star center Bob Lanier was equally significant.
As winners of the Midwest Division, the Bucks received a bye to the second round of the playoffs, although the challenge which lay in wait was a significant one.
The Seattle SuperSonics had won 56 games in the regular season, and with the combination of Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson and a young Jack Sikma, they were just a little further along in their development than the rapidly rising Bucks.
In the end, the Bucks were eliminated following just a four-point loss in a road Game 7, but they had put the rest of the NBA on notice for what was set to come in the 80s.