April 30, 1971: A Title for Oscar Robertson

April 30, 1971: The Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Championship, in only their 3rd season. It remains a record for the NBA.

It took them half a century to win another.

The Bucks and the Phoenix Suns had both come into the NBA as expansion teams for the 1968-69 season. Like most expansion teams, both of them struggled: The Bucks finished last in the Eastern Division with a record of 27 wins and 55 losses, while the Suns finished with the worst record in the entire league, at 16-66. By all rights, they should have had the top pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

But, at the time, a coin flip between the teams with the 2 worst records was held to decide who got the rights to the 1st overall pick. The idea was that a team trying to lose in order to get the top pick -- "tanking" would eventually become the expression -- might end up losing it to the team with the 2nd-worst record.

The Bucks won the coin flip, and, naturally, they picked Lew Alcindor, the center who had led UCLA to the last 3 National Championships. Alcindor had already converted to Islam, and, after the 1971-72 season, he announced that he had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Lew/Kareem immediately turned the Bucks from a 27-55 team into a 56-26 team, and a Division Champion. In the 1970 off-season, the Bucks made a trade with the Seattle SuperSonics, acquiring guard Lucius Allen, Kareem's UCLA teammate.

And they acquired Cincinnati Royals star Oscar Robertson, perhaps the best all-around player the game had ever seen. "The Big O" had come from Indianapolis, and had gotten the University of Cincinnati into what would eventually be called the NCAA Final Four in 1959 and 1960. For 10 years, he starred for the Royals, setting NBA career records for assists and steals (both of them since broken).

In the years to come, having a "triple-double" -- double figures, 10 or more, in points and 2 of 3 other categories, rebounds, assists and steals -- in a single game is considered a big deal. The term wasn't yet in use in 1961-62, but, that season, Robertson averaged a triple-double per game: 30.8 points, 11.4 assists, and 12.5 rebounds. There is no record of how many steals he had, or averaged: He might have averaged a quadruple-double for the season.

But despite having Robertson, rebound specialist Jerry Lucas, and another All-Star, Jack Twyman, the Royals never reached the NBA Finals. In fact, to this day, the franchise, which has been the Sacramento Kings since 1985, has only reached the Finals once, when they won the 1951 NBA Championship as the Rochester Royals.

The closest they got was reaching the Eastern Division Finals, in 1963 and 1964, losing to the Boston Celtics both times. It's also no coincidence that those were the 2 seasons between the move of the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco and the Warriors trading Wilt Chamberlain to the team that replaced them, the Philadelphia 76ers. (The Warriors lost the 1964 NBA Finals to the Celtics.) Indeed, from 1956 to 1969, 14 seasons, the Eastern Division playoff title was won by the Celtics or a Philadelphia team every year.

Finally, before the 1970-71 season, Robertson was traded to the Bucks. Today, we would say that Milwaukee were trying to "build a superteam," with Larry Costello, who played on the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers, coaching Alcindor at center, Bob Boozer and Bob Dandridge at forward, and Robertson and Allen at guard, with good reserves in Jon McGlocklin and McCoy McLemore. Alcindor/Abdul-Jabbar (33), Robertson (1), Dandridge (10) and McGlocklin (14, which had been Robertson's number in Cincinnati) would all get their numbers retired by the Bucks.

The Bucks beat the San Francisco Warriors in the 1st round of the Playoffs, then eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. They would play the Baltimore Bullets, who had beaten the 76ers, and then the defending NBA Champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Coached by Gene Shue, the Bullets were favored. They had Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, the flashiest player in the game. They had Gus Johnson, one of the game's early dunk artists. And they had Wes Unseld, one of the NBA's earliest true power forwards. All 3 would make the Basketball Hall of Fame, as would Bucks Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar.

Game 1 was on April 21, at the at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. (Kareem's thoughts on that nickname -- and on New York's Madison Square Garden being known as "the Mecca of Basketball" and "the Mecca of Boxing" -- are not publicly known.) The Bucks won, 98-88. Game 2 was 4 days later, at the Baltimore Civic Center. In a stunning results, the Bucks won that game in a blowout, 102-83.

The MECCA

Game 3 was 3 days later, in Milwaukee, and the Bucks won, 107-99. Just 2 nights later, in Baltimore, the Bucks finished the job, 118-106. The Bucks seemed to do better in Baltimore than they did in Milwaukee.

The Baltimore Civic Center

For the great Oscar, it was his one and only title. For Kareem, it was his 1st of 6 – but the only one in Milwaukee. In 1974, the Bucks returned to the Finals, losing to the Celtics. Game 7 of that Finals was Robertson's last game, as he retired.

In 1975, thinking that Milwaukee had become too small for him, or perhaps that he was too big for it, Kareem demanded a trade.  For most athletes, this would be considered a very arrogant thing, but he had proved that he was now too big for them. And so, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he would win 5 more Championships, and become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

For the 1973-74 season, the Bullets moved to the next-closest city, becoming the Capital Bullets for 1 season, then the Washington Bullets. In 1997, they moved from the suburbs of Washington to the District of Columbia itself, and became the Washington Wizards. The Baltimore Civic Center still stands, under the name of the CFG Bank Arena.

The Bucks were usually a good team after 1974, at one point winning 7 straight Division titles. But they didn't get back to even the Conference Finals until 2001, and finally won another NBA Championship in 2021. They moved from the MECCA to the Bradley Center, across the street, in 1988; and up one more block to the Fiserv Center in 2018. The MECCA is now home to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and is named the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Oscar and Kareem were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. So were Bullets Monroe and Unseld.

*

April 30, 1971 was a Friday. The American Basketball Association was between its Division Finals and its Finals. The Utah Stars went on to beat the Kentucky Colonels in 7 games.

Football was out of season. The NHL was in the Stanley Cup Semifinals, with the Montreal Canadiens beating the Minnesota North Stars, and the Chicago Black Hawks beating the New York Rangers.

The day before this, the Rangers won Game 6 on a goal by Pete Stemkowski in the 3rd overtime. I considered making a separate entry for that event, since it's still considered one of the biggest wins in Ranger history. But the Hawks won Game 7 on May 2, so the Stemkowski goal turned out to be, however dramatic, ultimately meaningless, much like the Carlton Fisk home run 4 years later.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Kline went the distance for the win, and got 2 of the Yankees' 5 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Boswell singled Bud Harrelson home with the winning run in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Rod Carew did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 8-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell each went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Juan Marichal started for the Giants, but Jerry Johnson ended up as the winning pitcher. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench hit 2 home runs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Chris Short pitched a 4-hit shutout. Ernie Banks, in his final season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The O's scored a run in the top of the 9th, but Freddie Patek singled Paul Schaal home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Frank Robinson appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 7-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Vida Blue went the distance for the win. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

April 8, 1973: The End of the Baltimore Bullets

April 8, 1973: The New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 109-99 at the new Madison Square Garden, and eliminate the Bullets from the Playoffs.

For the Knicks, on their way to their 2nd NBA Championship and 3rd trip to the Finals in 4 seasons: Former Bullets star Earl "The Pearl" Monroe scored 26 points, Dave DeBusschere 21, Walt Frazier 20, Willis Reed 12, and Bill Bradley 9. Among substitutes, Phil Jackson had 13, Dean Meminger 6 and Jerry Lucas 2.

For the Bullets: Archie Clark scored 30 points, Elvin Hayes and Phil Chenier each added 20, Mike Riordan (who played on the Knicks' 1970 title team) had 17, and Wes Unseld had 12. These starters played nearly the entire game. John Tresvant played 4 minutes and Kevin Porter 2, each without a shot, a rebound or an assist.

This would be the last game the Bullets played as a Baltimore team. They were a 1961 expansion team, playing the 1961-62 season as the Chicago Packers, then the 1962-63 season as the Chicago Zephyrs, then played at the Baltimore Civic Center from 1963 to 1973.

In 1971, they nearly gave Baltimore a very rare treble of titles: The Orioles had won the 1970 World Series, the Colts had won Super Bowl V, and the Bullets reached the 1971 NBA Finals. Coached by Gene Shue, They had a starting lineup of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe and Fred "Mad Dog" Carter, both from Philadelphia, as guards; Jack Marin and John Tresvant at forward; and Wes Unseld at center; with former All-Star forward Gus Johnson and guard Kevin Loughery as key reserves. But they were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Left: Wes Unseld, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar watching.

Right: Earl Monroe.

Washington-based construction magnate Abe Pollin bought the Bullets in 1964, but wasn't happy with the Civic Center having only 13,000 seats. So he built the Capital Centre, just outside the Capital Beltway in Landover, Prince George's County, Maryland -- 34 miles southwest of downtown Baltimore, and 11 miles east of downtown Washington. He also established the NHL's Washington Capitals, to begin play there in 1974. The saddle-roofed arena was intended to be easily reachable for people from both cities to drive to it, but the Washington Metro didn't open a station for it until 1978.

Under his ownership, his teams reached their sports' Finals 5 times, but he won only in 1978 with the Bullets, with Shue still coaching them, and Unseld still leading the team, with the addition of forward Elvin Hayes.

In 1997, Pollin built a new arena in downtown Washington, now named the Capital One Arena, and changed the NBA team's name to the Washington Wizards, to help remove the stigma of gun violence from his hometown.

The Wizards have honored 5 players with the retirement of their uniform numbers, with 3 of them contributing significantly to the Baltimore Bullets: Monroe, 10; Johnson, 25; and Unseld, 41. Walt Bellamny, Bailey Howell, and Hayes (the final season, 1972-73, only) joined those 3 as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame who played for the Baltimore Bullets.

Abe Pollin died in 2009, and his 45 years with the Bullets/Wizards makes him the longest-tenured owner in NBA history. But in spite of his long ownerships, neither the Basketball nor the Hockey Hall of Fame's voters have seen fit to elect him.

The Bullets played 35 regular season "home" games at the Civic Center, by then having taken a series of new names as one corporation after another bought naming rights, from January 1989 through March 1997. As of April 8, 2022, the building is named the Royal Farms Arena, and has been renovated, but the wider seats have reduced seating capacity to 11,614. Adding modern luxury boxes would basically eliminate the upper deck, reducing capacity further. Baltimore has looked at plans for a new arena, but hasn't selected one. Until they do, and it can open, Baltimore will remain the largest metropolitan area in the Northeastern U.S. without an NBA team.

The Baltimore Civic Center, now the CFG Bank Arena.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards can be seen in the background.

UPDATE: In 2023, the name of the former Baltimore Civic Center was changed again, to the CFG Bank Arena.

The Washington Wizards have retired the numbers of Baltimore Bullets Earl Monroe, 10; Gus Johnson, 25; and Wes Unseld, 41.

*

April 8, 1973 was a Sunday. Actress Emma Caulfield was born. And painter Pablo Picasso died.

There were 2 other games in the NBA Playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 97-94 at The Omni in Atlanta. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 37 points for the Hawks. And that wasn't the highest point total of the day: In the Chicago Bulls' 98-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Chicago Stadium, Bob Love of the Bulls scored 38.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Utah Stars beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 120-98 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 4 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-0 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-0 in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the St. Louis Arena.

And there were 3 games in the inaugural World Hockey Association Playoffs:

* The New England Whalers beat the Ottawa Nationals, 4-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 3-1 at the Philadelphia Arena.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 5-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Yankees tied the game in the top of the 9th inning, but, in a rare moment when the Sox' 1972 trade of Sparky Lyle to the Yankees looked good for them, Sparky gave up what would now be called a walkoff home run to Orlando Cepeda.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The Houston Astros won the opener, beating the Atlanta Braves, 10-3. The Asros scored 8 runs in the top of the 6th inning. César Cedeño went 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk. The Braves won the nightcap, 4-3. Mike Lum singled Darrell Evans home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Aaron only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 and 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Bob Robertson won the 1st game with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Lou Brock went 0-for-4. Despite the loss in the 2nd game, Brock rebounded to go 5-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 3-for-8 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Joe Coleman pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Lerrin LaGrow completed the 3-hit shutout. Norm Cash hit a home run, and Al Kaline went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Tommy John allowed 7 hits over 7 1/3rd innings, and George Culver finished the 8-hit shutout.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Jim Kaat outpitched Ken Holtzman. Harmon Killebrew did not play. Rod Carew went 1-for-3. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Shea Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The Mets won the 1st game, 7-6, scoring all 7 runs in the 1st inning. Barry Lersch survived the onslaught -- probably because manager wanted to save the bullpen for a still-winnable 2nd game -- and lasted 7 innings. In contrast, George Stone went only 5 innings for the Mets, but was the winning pitcher.

The Phils won the 2nd game, 7-1. Mike Wallace (not the CBS newscaster) outpitched Harry Parker. After not appearing in the 1st game, Willie Mays, in his final season, went 2-for-4 in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt, in his 1st full season, went 3-for-8 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 5 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers were rained out at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The game was made up as part of a 4th of July doubleheader. The ChiSox swept, 2-0 and 6-2. Jim Geddes had to leave the 1st game in the 5th inning, due to injury, and Cy Acosta pitched the rest of the way. Each of them allowed only 2 hits in a combined 4-hit shutout.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 12. The O's swept, 4-1 and 5-3. In the 1st game, Jim Palmer outpitched Skip Lockwood for his 20th win of the season. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 1-for-6 with 2 walks.