Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics dive for a loose ball.
The Bucks are as deep into the NBA Playoffs as the franchise has been in nearly 20 years. Tied 1-1 with the Celtics, Milwaukee travels to Boston Friday night for a pivotal Game 3, as teams with a 2-1 series lead go on to advance 72% of the time.
In fact, the Celtics have been a consistent thorn in the Bucks’ side over the last four decades. The two teams went to 7 games last year in a 1st round win by Boston. The Celtics stymied the Bucks three times in the conference finals in the 1980s.
Also, they topped Milwaukee in its last NBA Finals appearance in 1974. Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to the 1971 NBA title. Alcindor become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and three years later, John Havlicek and Paul Westphal led Boston to a 4-3 series win for the championship.
The Bucks haven’t made the NBA Finals since. Let’s take a look at that season.
Milwaukee Bucks 1974 NBA Finals Season
While Abdul-Jabbar was well on his way to the all-time scoring leader in NBA history, Robertson was playing in his final professional season in 1974. The former skyhooked his way to 27 points a game, as well as 14.5 rebounds. Meanwhile, Robertson averaged just 12.7 points and 6.4 assists per contest.
Actually, the 2nd-leading scorer was 6-foot-6 forward Bob Dandridge, whose No. 10 jersey was retired by the Bucks. He was an All-Star the year before, and scored 18.9 points per game while contributing 1.6 steals on average.
With two future Hall of Famers and an All-Star caliber player in Dandridge, Milwaukee was a confident bunch. As backup point guard Dick Garrett described to Fox Sports in 2017:
“If you got a guy like Oscar Robertson and Kareem, no matter who you put out there you were going to have a good chance of winning. That was kind of the mindset on this team. I don’t think any of us thought we’d lose.”
A 59-23 record earned a No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. 8 wins in 9 games in the conference playoffs against the Lakers and Bulls clinched a berth in the finals versus the Celtics.
A back and forth series ensued. Both teams split road games to return to return to Milwaukee tied at two apiece. An 96-87 Celtics victory in Game 5 meant Milwaukee had to extend the series at the Boston Garden. A double-overtime classic in Game 6 ended with a patented Abdul-Jabbar skyhook. Per NBA.com:
With the champagne about to be uncorked, Milwaukee called a timeout and set up one last play–not for Abdul-Jabbar, but for swingman Jon McGlocklin. However, the play broke down when McGlocklin couldn’t shake himself free as Abdul-Jabbar stood to the right of the lane with the ball. Abdul-Jabbar looked for someone else to pass to but could find no one, so he dribbled to the baseline, turned and put up his graceful sky-hook. It nestled through the net for a 102-101 Bucks win that tied the series at 3-3.
With so much energy expended, the Bucks faded to a 102-87 loss back at home in Game 7. Boston seized its 12th NBA title.
“At the end of a series like that, you’re just glad it’s over,” Dandridge said to Fox Sports. “You know, you’re like, OK, it’s over, they won and you’re exhausted and you know you laid everything out there so let’s just go ahead and move on to the summer. It takes you, once you regain your juices and you’ve rested, then you reflect back on the pain of losing the game. For me, Boston won. They were the better team for that seven game series. Then it’s over.”