Milwaukee Bucks: Looking at their 3 best NBA Christmas Day moments
As the Milwaukee Bucks prepare to play in their third straight Christmas Day game, we look at their greatest moments playing on the holiday slate.
It wasn’t that long ago that all Milwaukee Bucks fans were wishing for a Christmas Day game.
Milwaukee’s irrelevancy and mediocrity stood as the big obstacle that prevented them from taking part in the NBA’s marquee holiday slate. But now as the Bucks play in their third consecutive Christmas Day game and will host their first game on the NBA’s marquee slate in 52 years, the calculus has changed for the Bucks in this department.
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Of course, it will be different not having Bucks fans take in the team’s home opener versus the Golden State Warriors this year at Fiserv Forum, on Christmas Day no less, but there will still be celebrating around the city of Milwaukee to see the Bucks play a home game on Christmas.
So without further ado, let’s run through the Milwaukee Bucks’ best Christmas Day moments as they go into playing their seventh game on the NBA’s hallowed Christmas slate.
Celebrating their first season with a Christmas Day game
There’s an old adage that you always remember your first and that’s certainly true of the Bucks for when they played in their first Christmas Day game.
By and large, Milwaukee’s expansion campaign in 1968-69 were mostly filled with many lows and very little highs. After all, the Bucks’ first season is mostly remembered for the reward they got after having a 27-55 record, which led to them landing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the first overall pick in 1969 NBA Draft and through a lucky coin flip.
Still, on December 25, 1968, the expansion Bucks hosted the Detroit Pistons at the old Milwaukee Arena, which ended in a 119-113 win in favor for Detroit.
Milwaukee was led by veteran guard Guy Rodgers, who had 24 points and 12 assists and the Bucks had seven players in double figures. And it would be a few years until the Bucks got their first win on Christmas Day.