1971 NBA Finals

{{NBA Finals summary

| image =

| caption =

| league = NBA

| year = 1971

| runnerup = Baltimore Bullets

| runnerup_coach = Gene Shue

| runnerup_games = 0

| champion = Milwaukee Bucks

| champion_coach = Larry Costello

| champion_games = 4

| date = April 21–30

| MVP = Lew Alcindor
(Milwaukee Bucks)

| HOFers = Bucks:
Lew Alcindor (as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; 1995)
Bob Dandridge (2021)
Oscar Robertson (1980)
Bullets:
Earl Monroe (1990)
Wes Unseld (1988)
Gus Johnson (2010)
Coaches:
Larry Costello (2022)

| ECF result = Bullets defeated Knicks, 4–3

| WCF result = Bucks defeated Lakers, 4–1

}}

The 1971 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series played at the conclusion of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 25th anniversary season of 1970–71. The Western Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks, who were founded as an expansion team three years earlier, swept the Eastern Conference champion Baltimore Bullets in four games. Baltimore had dethroned the 1969–70 NBA champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. This was the first NBA Finals played between two expansion teams.

The Bucks were the first Western Conference champions to win the league's championship since the St. Louis Hawks did so in 1958, and were the first expansion team in the NBA to win a championship since the NBA held its first expansion draft. (The Bullets originally started out as the Chicago Packers, an expansion team that began play in {{nbay|1961}} before moving to Baltimore in 1963.) It was also the first NBA title by a Western Conference team that has not since folded or relocated.

The Bullets were forced to play Game 1 on a Wednesday night, just 48 hours after having defeated New York in Game 7 of the 1971 Eastern Conference Finals, then had to wait four days before playing Game 2.

The series was the second (and last) time in NBA history that the teams alternated home games, the other being in {{nbafy|1956}}. Most other series were held in the 2-2-1-1-1 or 2-3-2 format (a 1-2-2-1-1 format was used in 1975 and 1978). It was also the last NBA Championship Series completed before May 1.

The series was broadcast by ABC with Chris Schenkel and Jack Twyman providing the commentary. This was the last playoff series broadcast for both Schenkel and Twyman; they were replaced the next season as the lead announcing team by Keith Jackson and Bill Russell, who served two years before ABC lost the national television contract to CBS after the 1972–73 season.

Until 2021, it was the Bucks' only and the city's second championship (with the other being the {{wsy|1957}} Braves). The city's 49-year drought was the fourth longest title drought in the "Big 4" major professional sports leagues, behind Buffalo, San Diego and Vancouver.{{efn|The British Columbia Lions, who play in Vancouver, have won six Grey Cup titles as champions of the Canadian Football League, but the CFL is not considered part of the "Big 4".}}

Series summary

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
class="wikitable"
Game 1	April 21	Milwaukee Bucks	98–88 (1–0)	Baltimore Bullets
Game 2	April 25	Baltimore Bullets	83–102 (0–2)	Milwaukee Bucks
Game 3	April 28	Milwaukee Bucks	107–99 (3–0)	Baltimore Bullets
Game 4	April 30	Baltimore Bullets	106–118 (0–4)	Milwaukee Bucks

Bucks win series 4–0

Game summaries

=Game 1=

{{Basketballbox|bg=#eee|report=[https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197104210MIL.html Boxscore]|date=April 21|team1=Baltimore Bullets|score1=88|team2=Milwaukee Bucks|score2=98|Q1=22–28|Q2=20–22|Q3=26–29|Q4=20–19|points1=Earl Monroe 26|rebounds1=John Tresvant 14|assist1=Fred Carter 4|points2=Lew Alcindor 31|rebounds2=Lew Alcindor 17|assist2=Oscar Robertson 7|series=Milwaukee leads series, 1–0|place=Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin|attendance=10,746|referee=Mendy Rudolph, Don Murphy}}

=Game 2=

{{Basketballbox|bg=#eee|date=April 25|report=[https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197104250BAL.html Boxscore]|team1=Milwaukee Bucks|score1=102|team2=Baltimore Bullets|score2=83|Q1=26–26|Q2=23–19|Q3=30–16|Q4=23–22|points1=Lew Alcindor 27|rebounds1=Lew Alcindor 24|assist1=Oscar Robertson 10|points2=Jack Marin 22|rebounds2=Wes Unseld 20|assist2=Earl Monroe 6|series=Milwaukee leads series, 2–0|place=Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland|attendance=12,289|referee=Richie Powers, Jack Madden}}

=Game 3=

{{Basketballbox|bg=#eee|date=April 28|report=[https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197104280MIL.html Boxscore]|team1=Baltimore Bullets|score1=99|team2=Milwaukee Bucks|score2=107|Q1=22–30|Q2=24–24|Q3=23–25|Q4=30–28|points1=Jack Marin 21|rebounds1=Wes Unseld 23|assist1=Wes Unseld 6|points2=Bob Dandridge 29|rebounds2=Lew Alcindor 21|assist2=Oscar Robertson 12|series=Milwaukee leads series, 3–0|place=Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin|attendance=10,746|referee=Richie Powers, Ed T. Rush}}

=Game 4=

{{Basketballbox|bg=#eee|date=April 30|report=[https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197104300BAL.html Boxscore]|team1=Milwaukee Bucks|score1=118|team2=Baltimore Bullets|score2=106|Q1=31–22|Q2=29–25|Q3=29–30|Q4=29–29|points1=Oscar Robertson 30|assist1=Oscar Robertson 9|rebounds1=Alcindor, Dandridge 12 each|points2=Fred Carter 28|rebounds2=Wes Unseld 23|assist2=Wes Unseld 10|series=Milwaukee wins NBA Finals, 4–0|place=Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland|attendance=11,842|referee=Mendy Rudolph, Don Murphy}}

Team rosters

=Milwaukee Bucks=

{{NBA roster header|team=Milwaukee Bucks

| bg1 = #00471B | color1 = #FFFFFF

| bg2 = #C41230 | color2 = #FFFFFF

}}

{{player2 | num = 33 | first = Lew | last = Alcindor | pos = C | ft = 7 | in = 2 | lbs = 225 | college = UCLA}}

{{player2 | num = 7 | first = Lucius | last = Allen | pos = PG | ft = 6 | in = 2 | lbs = 175 | college = UCLA}}

{{player2 | num = 20 | first = Bob | last = Boozer | pos = PF | ft = 6 | in = 8 | lbs = 215 | college = Kansas State}}

{{player2 | num = 19 | first = Dick | last = Cunningham | pos = C | ft = 6 | in = 10 | lbs = 245 | college = Murray State}}

{{player2 | num = 10 | first = Bob | last = Dandridge | pos = SF | ft = 6 | in = 6 | lbs = 195 | college = Norfolk State}}

{{player2 | num = 18 | first = Bob | last = Greacen | pos = F | ft = 6 | in = 7 | lbs = 206 | college = Rutgers}}

{{player2 | num = 14 | first = Jon | last = McGlocklin | pos = SG | ft = 6 | in = 5 | lbs = 205 | college = Indiana}}

{{player2 | num = 35 | first = McCoy | last = McLemore | pos = SF | ft = 6 | in = 7 | lbs = 230 | college = Drake}}

{{player2 | num = 1 | first = Oscar | last = Robertson | pos = PG | ft = 6 | in = 5 | lbs = 205 | college = Cincinnati}}

{{player2 | num = 4 | first = Greg | last = Smith | dab = basketball, born 1947 | pos = PF | ft = 6 | in = 5 | lbs = 195 | college = Western Kentucky}}

{{player2 | num = 8 | first = Jeff | last = Webb | dab = basketball | pos = PG | ft = 6 | in = 4 | lbs = 170 | college = Kansas State}}

{{player2 | num = 5 | first = Marv | last = Winkler | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 1 | lbs = 170 | college = Louisiana-Lafayette}}

{{player2 | num = 6 | first = Bill | last = Zopf | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 1 | lbs = 170 | college = Duquesne}}

{{NBA roster footer

| head_coach =

Larry Costello

| asst_coach =

Tom Nissalke

}}

=Baltimore Bullets=

{{NBA roster header|team=Baltimore Bullets

| bg1 = #0B4499 | color1 = #FFFFFF

| bg2 = #F90030 | color2 = #000000

}}

{{player2 | num = 3 | first = Fred | last = Carter | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 3 | lbs = 185 | college = Mount St. Mary's}}

{{player2 | num = 31 | first = George E. | last = Johnson | dab = basketball | pos = F | ft = 6 | in = 11 | lbs = 245 | college = Stephen F. Austin}}

{{player2 | num = 25 | first = Gus | last = Johnson | dab = basketball | pos = F | ft = 6 | in = 6 | lbs = 230 | college = Idaho}}

{{player2 | num = 22 | first = Kevin | last = Loughery | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 3 | lbs = 190 | college = St. John's}}

{{player2 | num = 24 | first = Jack | last = Marin | pos = F | ft = 6 | in = 6 | lbs = 210 | college = Duke}}

{{player2 | num = 15 | first = Eddie | last = Miles | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 4 | lbs = 195 | college = Seattle}}

{{player2 | num = 10 | first = Earl |last = Monroe | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 3 | lbs = 185 |college = Winston-Salem State}}

{{player2 | num = 40 | first = Dorie | last = Murrey | pos = PF | ft = 6 | in = 8 | lbs = 229 | college = Detroit Mercy}}

{{player2 | num = 12 | first = John | last =Tresvant | pos = PF | ft = 6| in = 7| lbs = 215| college = Seattle}}

{{player2 | num = 35 | first = Al | last = Tucker | pos = SF | ft = 6 | in = 8 | lbs = 190 | college = Oklahoma Baptist}}

{{player2 | num = 41 | first = Wes | last = Unseld | pos = F | ft = 6 | in = 7 | lbs = 245 | college = Louisville}}

{{player2 | num = 11 | first = Gary | last = Zeller | pos = G | ft = 6 | in = 3 | lbs = 205 | college = Drake}}

{{NBA roster footer

| head_coach =

Gene Shue

| asst_coach =

Bob Ferry

}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120222185157/http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19701971.html NBA History]
[https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1971_finals.html Basketball-Reference]
[http://behindthebuckpass.com/2016/09/05/milwaukee-bucks-looking-back-1971-nba-finals/ Milwaukee Bucks: Looking Back At The 1971 NBA Finals]
[https://www.si.com/vault/issue/43076/1/2 Sports Illustrated: Oscar and the Bucks are No. 1]