Milwaukee Bucks: 3 similarities between 1971 and 2021 title-winning teams

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo feasted in first NBA Finals appearance with Milwaukee Bucks

There’s no illusion to who are the top two Bucks players in history, especially after both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo both led their respective squads to titles 50 years apart.

While Antetokounmpo has surely closed the gap on Abdul-Jabbar’s strangehold for being the best player to grace through Milwaukee, the simple fact of the matter is that they have built a similar resume to one another. And their respective performances in their first NBA Finals appearance certainly indicates that.

Not only were both Abdul-Jabbar and Antetokounmpo named NBA Finals MVP, both legends put up strong, highly efficient performances over the series that launched the Bucks to glory.

Starting with Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader averaged 27 points on 60.5 percent shooting from the field (76.2 percent shooting from the free throw line), 18.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the Bucks’ sweep of the Washington Bullets.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, averaged an astonishing 35.2 points per game on .618/.200/.659 shooting splits, 13.2 rebounds per game and 5 assists per game over this year’s NBA Finals. All of which was capped by his all-time 50-point performance in the Bucks’ closeout victory over the Suns.

The foundation of skills, size, athleticism and blazing efficiency have been the tentpoles of success for both Antetokounmpo and Abdul-Jabbar. They no doubt had plenty of help on deck, whether it was the likes of Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge and so on for Abdul-Jabbar and Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton for Antetokounmpo. Still, the Bucks’ best players in history made sure to steer the Bucks to immortality by playing up to the extraordinary standards under the biggest moments.

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With two titles now in the mix for the Milwaukee Bucks, we can only wonder when they add another into the fold. With Antetokounmpo and their core still locked down for foreseeable future, anything is possible.