Milwaukee Bucks: Ranking the 10 greatest seasons in franchise history

6. 1985-86 season

57-25, lost 4-0 in Conference Finals

The Bucks won their very first playoff series against the 76ers, yet in the time between then and 1985-86, four consecutive series losses had left it as a particularly lop-sided rivalry in Philadelphia’s favor.

The Bucks would get another shot at taking down the 76ers, but before then they put together what would prove to be one of the last great regular seasons of the Don Nelson era.

With so much of Nelson’s tenure in Milwaukee marked by win totals in the high 50s, or even the 60s, the Bucks took earlier changes to the roster in stride as they racked up 57 wins, while ranking among the leagues top-5 teams on both ends of the floor.

Moncrief continued to be Milwaukee’s leading light, but Terry Cummings and Paul Pressey weren’t far behind as Nelson’s Milwaukee teams continued with their hallmarks of roster depth and balance.

With places 6-8 of the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture filled with below .500 teams, the Bucks delivered on their status as heavy favorites with a first round sweep of the seventh-seeded New Jersey Nets.

That set up the inevitable annual meeting with the 76ers, and with a one-point win in Game 7, the Bucks finally overcame Philadelphia in the postseason, in spite of injury troubles for Moncrief throughout the series.

Unfortunately for Milwaukee, their prize for getting the best of the Sixers was to run straight into the buzz-saw that was the 1986 Celtics. En route to winning the championship, Boston made light work of the Bucks in a Conference Finals sweep.