Milwaukee Bucks: 4 memorable game-winning shots in playoff history

Sidney Moncrief seals Milwaukee Bucks’ Game 3 win over 76ers in 1983 Eastern Conference Semifinals

One of the best players in franchise history, Sidney Moncrief came up big in the Bucks’ heated battle with the Philadelphia 76ers during Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals series in 1982.

Already down 2-0 as the series went back to Milwaukee, the Bucks were in need of a huge victory to regather themselves from sinking further into a bigger hole. Luckily, there was Moncrief there to convert an incredibly athletic finish over 76ers Hall of Famer Julius Erving just as time expired to take a 92-91 victory and put the series to 2-1.

Throughout the Bucks’ glorious run in the 1980s and the Don Nelson era more specifically, the 76ers stood as their biggest playoff foe. Before that year’s series, the 76ers had escaped past the Bucks in a hard fought Conference Semifinals series that went the full tilt in the favor of the 76ers.

Still, that Game 3 victory and Moncrief’s clutch finish didn’t stave off defeat for the Bucks as they fell to the 76ers in six games and Philadelphia ultimately set the stage for their title-winning season that year. And it wouldn’t be the last of their playoff battles that decade. Not by a long shot.