1971 Overview
From Hoopedia
1970-71 NBA Season
For years, Oscar Robertson had taught the entire league about greatness. He had led the NBA in scoring and in assists and won the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards. He even averaged a triple-double for an entire season, a feat no other player has matched.
The only thing missing from his résumé was an NBA title, until, at 32, he joined the Milwaukee Bucks and added that last item.
“In his time, he was the greatest,” said Ed Jucker, who coached “the Big O” at the University of Cincinnati. “No one was the equal to him. I always called him a complete ballplayer, and there are not many truly complete players. But he could play any position.”
Not only was Robertson complete, but he was almost nonchalant about it, former Kansas Coach Dick Harp said. “He had unbelievable control of a basketball game, and many times he looked like he was taking a walk in the country when he did it. He was so much in control of things. He had the size, the quickness, everything. He had all those great blessings, but among them he had great judgment about what to do with the ball.”
“He was such a great passer,” recalled Pete Newell, the hoops guru and former Lakers general manager. “He was so tough when he got the ball . . . There was no way you could stop Oscar one-on-one from penetrating and getting his shot.”
As great as he was, it was Robertson’s pairing with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Milwaukee that allowed him to realize the championship. Bucks Coach Larry Costello had retired as a player after the 1968 season and was hired to bring along a young Milwaukee expansion team. But the schedule was accelerated after the Bucks drafted Abdul-Jabbar. Sensing that Abdul-Jabbar could be the focus of a championship contender, Bucks management went out and traded for veterans Oscar Robertson, Lucius Allen and Bob Boozer.
The group clicked almost immediately, due in part to the single-mindedness shared by Costello, Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar.
“Larry, Oscar and I have the same way about us,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We agree that being as efficient as possible cuts down on our chances for errors.”
Abdul-Jabbar ruled the NBA with grace uncommon in a seven-footer. His sky-hook had become the most devastating weapon in the game, and he used it to lead the league in scoring (31.7 points per game) and also win the Most Valuable Player Award for the first time.
Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson were surrounded by a group of quality teammates, with Boozer, Greg Smith and Bob Dandridge at forward and Allen and Jon McGlocklin assisting Robertson at guard.
The new season brought with it expansion teams in Buffalo, Cleveland and Portland and a new wrinkle: the advent of four divisions, two in each newly formed conference. In 1964-65, nine teams played 360 games in a league with 108 players.
Just five years later, the NBA season opened with 17 teams playing 697 games in a 204-player league. Milwaukee won a league-high 66 games and brushed aside San Francisco and Los Angeles in five games each in the Western Conference Playoffs. Baltimore surprised many by defeating defending champ New York in a rugged seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals. But Earl Monroe and Gus Johnson sustained injuries during the series, joining an already hobbled Wes Unseld. The Bucks swept to the championship in four straight, only the second Finals sweep in NBA history.
“It was almost like pure basketball,” Robertson would say later about his championship season. Pure basketball for pure players.
