Bucks Diary

Friday, December 02, 2005

Retro Post: The Greatest Game in Bucks History


102-101, was the final score of the greatest game in Bucks history, the Bucks double overtime victory at the Boston Garden over the Boston Celtics in Game Six of the 1974 NBA Finals. The transcendent greatness of the game has since been overshadowed by the triple overtime thriller in the 1976 NBA Finals played in the same venue between the Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. In my opinion, however, 'Game Six' (as it is simply known to Bucks fans) deserves a place as one of the best basketball games ever played.


(As a side note, did the Bucks ever sport cooler jerseys than their 1974 road jerseys which were immortalized in this game?)

Spectacular Plays From Both Sides

The game, particularly the second overtime, featured spectacular play after spectacular play, most of them made by the brilliant Celtic F John "Hondo" Havlicek, who finished with a game high 36 points. Havlicek was incredible; he almost single-handedly defeated the Bucks. But they wouldn't let him. In a sweaty Boston Garden, with a raucous crowd almost spilling onto the floor, the Milwaukee players showed there was a thing called "Bucks Pride", turning in one of the greatest collective efforts in NBA history.

First Overtime: No One Could Find the Basket

After a lackluster first overtime, in which the teams combined to score just 4 points a piece on 4-for-17 shooting, and in which the Bucks unbelievably turned the ball over when they had the lead and less than 16 seconds were left on the clock, the teams brought their "A" games out for overtime number two, and turned this game from noteworthy to legendary.


Second Overtime: Both Teams Step It Up

If the first overtime was one for the garbage can, the second overtime was one for the ages. Bobby Dandridge opened the scoring, hitting two free throws to put the Bucks up 92-90. After the Bucks resident hippy guard Mickey Davis was called for palming, John Havlicek took over.

First he cut the lane and made a short jumper over Dandridge, who was whistled for a foul on the shot. Havlicek completed the three point play to make it 93-92. Then Kareem answered with a left lane sky hook. 94-93 Bucks. Then Havlicek made another jumper. 95-94 Celtics. The Big O answered with a terrific stop and pop jumper in the lane. 96-95 Milwaukee. Then after Kareem swatted a Havlicek jumper out of bounds, the Celtics inbounded the ball to G JoJo White, who made an impossible baseline jumper. 97-96 Boston.


The Big O Comes Up Big

Proving that big players play big in big moments, on the Bucks ensuing possession, Oscar Robertson made an unfathomable running one-hander while sprawling across the lane, and with only 1 second left on the 24 second clock. A truly remarkable shot. Bucks recapture the lead, 98-97.

Havlicek Answers

The lead was shortlived, however, as the incomparable Havlicek came down and buried yet another jump shot to put Boston back ahead 99-98. It was a heavyweight title fight, and each fighter was landing haymakers, but neither could knock the other out.


Bye Bye Dave Cowens

The game took a pivotal turn on the next possession. The Bucks threw the ball into Jabbar on the left block. He immediately wheeled into the lane. Celtics C Dave Cowens was forced to handcheck the big man. It was his sixth foul and he was disqualified. That disqualification would soon prove crucial.

After the Cowens foul, however, the Bucks got sloppy. Inbounding the ball on the side, they inexplicably wasted time in the backcourt and almost made an historic blunder by allowing the 24 second clock to expire without even attempting a shot. The game seemed to tilt irretrievably to the Celtics.

Robertson Saves the Day

But they could not deliver the dagger, when Oscar Robertson's glove like defense forced Havlicek into a rare crunch time error: he dribbled the ball off his foot.

The Hippy Hero

This set up one of the most unlikely big shots in Bucks history. With 24 seconds left on the clock and the Bucks trailing by one, Mickey Davis made an incredible baseline floater over the outstretched hand of Boston F Paul Silas. The Bucks were momentarily in control, 100-99.


Havlicek Nearly Wins It

But the Celtics weren't done. Of course it was Hondo Havlicek who answered, sending the Boston crowd into an absolute frenzy when he made what might otherwise have been remembered as one of the great shots in NBA history, nailing a 15 foot baseline rainbow jumper over the leaping hand of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 7 seconds remaining. The championship seemed to belong to Boston. Havlicek's baseline floater was set to take its place in the annals of Celtic history. Rather than going down as one of the great shots of all time, however, the shot is now almost completely forgotten because of what transpired next.


A Sky Hook for the Ages

After Havlicek's heroics, the Bucks called timeout and advanced the ball to midcourt. Oscar inbounded the ball to Kareem. Apparently the play was designed to go to Jon McGlocklin, but Kareem couldn't find him. Instead he dribbled down the right hand side of the lane, and, free from the pesky Cowens who had fouled out, he was able to let fly with an outside hook shot, well outside of his normal comfort zone. The greatest shot in Milwaukee Buck history flew about 16 feet and drew nothing but net.

Kareem's legendary shot brought the Celtic crowd to its knees, and brought the Bucks to the brink of a second world championship. Alas, they never quite made it there, losing the seventh game in anticlimactic fashion, and, regretably, they haven't been to another NBA Finals since.

But that monumental skyhook will always be remembered with fondness by fans of the Purple and Green as long as the Bucks franchise endures. 102-101. The final score of the greatest game in Milwaukee Bucks history.

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