Milwaukee Bucks: Ranking the 10 greatest seasons in franchise history
By Adam McGee
Honorable Mention 2: 1981-82 season
55-37, lost 4-2 in Conference Semi-Finals
After an excellent season the year prior, which was just the fourth 60-win season in franchise history, hopes were high for Milwaukee in 1981-82.
Although the Bucks were unable to match the elite return of the previous campaign or go deeper in the playoffs on this occasion, they did continue producing the kind of consistent, winning play that would come to define the franchise throughout the decade.
In the bigger picture of Marques Johnson’s Bucks career, this season looks like something of a down year, but in truth it was in many ways an example of the incredible balance Don Nelson‘s squad possessed at the time.
Moncrief led the way in scoring at 19.8 points per game, but behind him, Johnson, Brian Winters, Bob Lanier, Quinn Buckner, Mickey Johnson and Junior Bridgeman all contributing an average of double digits points on a nightly basis. With Scott May falling just below that mark too, the Bucks had a variety of ways to beat opponents on any given night.
That certainly should have been enough to give the Bucks hope when the playoffs rolled around, but for neither the first or the last time, they faced a sizable task in the form of the Philadelphia 76ers.
This time around, the Sixers entered the playoffs following a 58-win regular season that saw them second to just the Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division. Following a postseason battle at the same stage 12 months earlier, familiarity between the two teams wasn’t an issue, but it didn’t prove enough to swing the balance in Milwaukee’s favor as Julius Erving, Andrew Toney and Maurice Cheeks starred in a 4-2 series win for Philly.