1970–71 Milwaukee Bucks season

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1970–71 Milwaukee Bucks season
NBA champions
Conference champions
Division champions
Head coachLarry Costello
ArenaMilwaukee Arena
Results
Record66–16 (.805)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Midwest)
Conference: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
(Defeated Bullets 4–0)

Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
RadioWTMJ
< 1969–70 1971–72 >

The 1970–71 Milwaukee Bucks season was the third season for the Bucks. Milwaukee posted a 66–16 record in only its third year of existence, and its second since drafting Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).[1] A key part of this championship season was the acquisition of Oscar Robertson. Other role players on the Bucks included players such as Bob Dandridge (18.4 ppg), Jon McGlocklin (15.8 ppg), power forward Greg Smith & key reserves such as Lucius Allen, Bob Boozer and Dick Cunningham completing the nucleus. This season included a 20-game winning streak, the NBA's longest at the time, and still ranked fifth all-time. The Bucks became the first team from the Midwest Division to win the NBA title; it would be 23 years before the Houston Rockets would do the same.

Draft picks[]

The Milwaukee Bucks made ten selections in the 1970 NBA Draft.[2]

Round Pick Player College/Club team
1 16 Gary Freeman Oregon State
2 33 Bill Zopf Duquesne
3 50 Marv Winkler SW Louisiana
4 67 Virgle Fredricks Drury
5 84 Mike Grosso Louisville
6 101 Willy Watson Oklahoma City
7 118 John Rinka Kenyon
8 135 Jim Samo Northwestern
9 152 Joe Hamilton North Texas State
10 169 Bob Seemer Georgia Tech

[3]

Roster[]

Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From
C 33 Alcindor, Lew 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 225 lb (102 kg) UCLA
PG 7 Allen, Lucius 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) UCLA
PF 20 Boozer, Bob 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Kansas State
C 19 Cunningham, Dick 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Murray State
SF 10 Dandridge, Bob 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Norfolk State
F 18 Greacen, Bob 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 206 lb (93 kg) Rutgers
SG 14 McGlocklin, Jon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Indiana
SF 35 McLemore, McCoy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Drake
PG 1 Robertson, Oscar 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Cincinnati
PF 4 Smith, Greg 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Western Kentucky
PG 8 Webb, Jeff 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Kansas State
G 5 Winkler, Marv 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Louisiana Lafayette
G 6 Zopf, Bill 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Duquesne
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Regular season[]

In only his second professional season, Lew Alcindor led the league in scoring at 31.7 ppg, ranked second in field goal percentage at .577 and fourth in rebounding at 16.0 rpg.[1] Newly arrived Oscar Robertson turned 32 early in the 1970–71 season, and was past his prime when he came to Milwaukee, but his versatile skills and experience provided a leadership role for the Bucks. Robertson had never won a championship and his desire to win seemed to inspire Alcindor and unite the rest of the Bucks. Robertson ranked third in the league in assists at 8.3 apg and was the Bucks' No. 2 scorer at 19.4 ppg.[1]

Standings[]

Midwest Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Milwaukee Bucks 66 16 .805 34–2 28–13 4–1 14–4
x-Chicago Bulls 51 31 .622 15 30–11 17–19 4–1 7–11
Phoenix Suns 48 34 .585 18 27–14 19–20 2–0 9–9
Detroit Pistons 45 37 .549 21 24–17 20–19 1–1 6–12
# Western Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Milwaukee Bucks 66 16 .805
2 y-Los Angeles Lakers 48 34 .585
3 x-Chicago Bulls 51 31 .622
4 x-San Francisco Warriors 41 41 .500
5 Phoenix Suns 48 34 .585
6 Detroit Pistons 45 37 .549
7 San Diego Rockets 40 42 .488
8 Seattle SuperSonics 38 44 .463
9 Portland Trail Blazers 29 53 .354


Record vs. opponents[]

1970–71 NBA Records
Team ATL BAL BOS BUF CHI CIN CLE DET LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO POR SDR SFW SEA
Atlanta 3–3 2–4 3–1 1–4 2–4 4–0 0–5 3–2 1–4 3–3 4–2 1–4 2–2 2–3 2–3 3–2
Baltimore 3–3 3–3 3–1 2–3 3–3 4–0 2–3 2–3 1–4 2–4 3–3 3–2 2–2 4–1 2–3 3–2
Boston 4–2 3–3 4–0 4–1 4–2 3–1 2–3 3–2 0–5 0–6 4–2 2–3 2–2 3–2 3–2 3–2
Buffalo 1–3 1–3 0–4 0–4 0–4 5–7 1–5 2–2 0–4 2–2 0–4 1–3 6–6 1–3 1–3 1–3
Chicago 4–1 3–2 1–4 4–0 4–0 4–0 3–3 2–4 1–5 3–2 3–2 3–3 3–1 6–0 4–2 3–2
Cincinnati 4–2 3–3 2–4 4–0 0–4 5–1 1–4 1–4 1–4 2–4 1–5 1–4 4–0 1–3 2–3 1–4
Cleveland 0–4 0–4 1–3 7–5 0–4 1–5 2–2 0–4 0–4 0–4 1–3 0–4 2–10 0–4 1–3 0–4
Detroit 5–0 3–2 3–2 5–1 3–3 4–1 2–2 2–3 1–5 2–3 2–3 2–4 3–1 4–2 1–4 3–1
Los Angeles 2–3 3–2 2–3 2–2 4–2 4–1 4–0 3–2 1–4 3–2 3–2 2–4 4–0 3–3 4–2 4–2
Milwaukee 4–1 4–1 5–0 4–0 5–1 4–1 4–0 5–1 4–1 1–4 4–1 4–2 3–1 4–1 6–0 5–1
New York 3–3 4–2 6–0 2–2 2–3 4–2 4–0 3–2 2–3 4–1 2–4 4–1 3–1 4–1 3–2 2–3
Philadelphia 2–4 3–3 2–4 4–0 2–3 5–1 3–1 3–2 2–3 1–4 4–2 3–2 4–0 3–2 3–2 3–2
Phoenix 4–1 2–3 3–2 3–1 3–3 4–1 4–0 4–2 4–2 2–4 1–4 2–3 4–0 2–4 3–2 3–2
Portland 2–2 2–2 2–2 6–6 1–3 0–4 10–2 1–3 0–4 1–3 1–3 0–4 0–4 0–4 1–3 2–4
San Diego 3–2 1–4 2–3 3–1 0–6 3–1 4–0 2–4 3–3 1–4 1–4 2–3 4–2 4–0 2–4 5–1
San Francisco 3–2 3–2 2–3 3–1 2–4 3–2 3–1 4–1 2–4 0–6 2–3 2–3 2–3 3–1 4–2 3–3
Seattle 2–3 2–3 2–3 3–1 2–3 4–1 4–0 1–3 2–4 1–5 3–2 2–3 2–3 4–2 1–5 3–3

Game log[]

1970–71 game log
Total: 66–16 (Home: 34–2; Road: 28–14)
October: 5–1 (Home: 3–0; Road: 2–1)
November: 13–2 (Home: 5–1; Road: 8–1)
December: 10–4 (Home: 7–0; Road: 3–4)
January: 13–2 (Home: 6–1; Road: 7–1)
February: 15–2 (Home: 6–0; Road: 9–2)
March: 2–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 0–0)
1970–71 schedule

Playoffs[]

1971 playoff game log
Conference Semifinals: 4–1 (Home: 3–0; Road: 1–1)
Conference Finals: 4–1 (Home: 3–0; Road: 1–1)
NBA Finals: 4–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 2–0)
1971 schedule

Player statistics[4][]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Season[]

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 82 40.1 57.7 69.0 16.0 3.3 31.7
Oscar Robertson 81 39.4 49.6 85.0 5.7 8.2 19.4
Bob Dandridge 79 36.2 50.9 70.2 8.0 3.5 18.4
Jon McGlocklin 82 35.3 53.5 86.2 2.7 3.7 15.8
Greg Smith 82 29.6 51.2 66.2 7.2 2.8 11.7
Bob Boozer 80 22.2 45.0 81.8 5.4 1.6 9.1
Lucius Allen 61 19.0 44.7 70.0 2.5 2.6 7.1
McCoy McLemore 28 14.8 36.8 82.9 3.8 1.1 4.7
Gary Freeman 41 8.2 50.8 73.7 2.4 0.8 3.7
Marv Winkler 3 4.7 30.0 100.0 1.3 0.7 2.7
Dick Cunningham 76 8.9 41.5 66.1 3.4 0.6 2.6
Bob Greacen 2 21.5 8.3 42.9 3.0 6.5 2.5
Jeff Webb 29 10.3 34.6 73.3 0.8 0.7 2.2
Bill Zopf 53 7.5 36.3 55.6 0.9 1.4 2.2

Playoffs[]

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 14 41.2 51.5 67.3 17.0 2.5 26.6
Bob Dandridge 14 38.2 46.3 78.2 9.6 3.4 19.2
Oscar Robertson 14 37.1 48.6 75.4 5.0 8.9 18.3
Jon McGlocklin 14 35.1 53.6 84.8 2.2 2.4 14.9
Greg Smith 14 32.4 54.7 55.0 8.6 2.6 11.6
Bob Boozer 14 20.2 48.2 75.9 5.3 1.2 7.4
Lucius Allen 14 22.3 50.6 71.4 2.9 3.7 7.3
Dick Cunningham 14 6.4 42.9 66.7 1.7 0.1 1.7
Bob Greacen 7 2.3 36.4 100.0 0.7 0.0 1.7
Jeff Webb 9 2.6 57.1 100.0 0.1 0.2 1.2
McCoy McLemore 10 5.2 25.0 50.0 1.6 0.8 0.7
Marv Winkler 5 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0

Awards and records[]

  • Lew Alcindor, NBA scoring champion
  • Lew Alcindor, NBA MVP
  • Lew Alcindor, NBA Finals MVP

Transactions[]

On April 21, 1970, the Bucks traded two young players, Flynn Robinson and Charlie Paulk, to the Cincinnati Royals for 10-year veteran guard Oscar Robertson.[1]

Trades[]

April 21, 1970 To Milwaukee Bucks----
  • Oscar Robertson
To Cincinnati Royals----
September 17, 1970 To Milwaukee Bucks---- To Seattle SuperSonics----
  • Zaid Abdul-Aziz
February 1, 1971 To Milwaukee Bucks---- To Cleveland Cavaliers----

Free Agents[]

Subtractions
Player Date signed New team
Len Chappell Expansion Draft May 11, 1970 Cleveland Cavaliers
Freddie Crawford Expansion Draft May 11, 1970 Buffalo Braves

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d NBA.com: All-Time Finals Challenge: 1971 Bucks
  2. ^ "1970 NBA Draft". Basketball Reference. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Milwaukee Bucks (1968 – ) 1970 Stats, History, Awards and More Archived 2008-03-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
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