NBA history: Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks have a playoff legacy
The Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks are no strangers to one another with multiple previous meetings in the NBA playoffs.
The 2021 NBA Eastern Conference Finals will feature a battle between two teams that have called Milwaukee home.
The current resident — Milwaukee Bucks — have called the Cream City home since 1969 but their conference finals opponent laid claim to the city first.
The Atlanta Hawks‘ history in Milwaukee is much more complicated. The history of the Hawks franchise dates back to the National Basketball League’s Buffalo Bisons franchise. While the Bisons are a largely forgotten early professional basketball franchise, they were a history-making one as William Gates and William King, were two of the first African-American players in the NBL.
The honeymoon in Buffalo didn’t last long. In fact, after just 13 games and 38 days, the franchise was on the move, this time across the country to Moline, Illinois. The team — now named the Tri-Cities Blackhawks — became a success in Moline and the Tri-Cities (Moline, Rock Island and Davenport, Iowa).
In 1949, the Blackhawks became one of the NBA’s charter teams and reached the playoffs in the NBA’s first season under a young head coach you may have heard of: Red Auerbach.
In a cruel turn of fate, the Blackhawks actually drafted Auerbach’s future championship point guard Bob Cousy. unfortunately, financial issues and the inability to agree to a deal forced the Blackhawks to trade Cousy to the Chicago Stags. The Chicago Stags would fold soon after and the Boston Celtics picked up the guard in a dispersal draft.
The luck of the Irish.
The Blackhawks’ financial issues were mounting and it was clear the Tri-Cities wouldn’t be able to sustain a team for much longer. Once again the franchise was on the move, this time to Milwaukee under the new name: the Milwaukee Hawks.
The Milwaukee Hawks era was a brief one as the team spent just four years there before moving to St. Louis at the beginning of the 1955-56 season. While the Hawks were a terrible team through most of their Milwaukee tenure, the team was an instant success in St. Louis led by coach Red Holzman and more importantly, one of the NBA’s best players: Bob Pettit.
The St. Louis Hawks would reach the NBA Finals in only their second year in St. Louis and win the NBA Championship in 1958.
That was the last championship for the Hawks franchise.
Milwaukee would be without an NBA team for a decade before the NBA awarded Milwaukee a team on Jan. 22, 1968. The Milwaukee Bucks began play in 1968-69 and like their predecessors, the Hawks were able to draft a franchise-altering big man: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Kareem and legendary NBA point guard Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to a 66-16 record in Milwaukee’s third NBA season and more importantly, helped the fledgling franchise win an NBA championship in just their third year of existence.
Like the Hawks though, decades have followed without a return to the glory.
Now, these two will battle in the Eastern Conference Finals with a chance to reach the NBA Finals. The Bucks are looking for their first NBA Finals berth since 1974 while the Hawks haven’t reached the NBA Finals since 1961.
While neither of these two franchises will be confused with the Lakers or Celtics, they’ve been largely successful over the course of their history. Only the early 2000s stand out as a particularly terrible team for the Hawks while the Bucks have been competitive for all but a brief period in the 1990s.
These two teams have met four times in the NBA playoffs — all in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Bucks vs Hawks:1984 Eastern Conference first round
The first matchup took place in 1984 with the Bucks in the midst of their great run through the 1980s led by head coach Don Nelson, Sidney Moncrief, Marques Johnson, Junior Bridgeman and Bob Lanier.
The Hawks were led by first-year head coach Mike Fratello who brought his patented grind-it-out style to the city. The Hawks finished 23rd in the league (dead last) in pace but boasted the NBA’s seventh-best defensive rating en route to a 40-42 record. The ragtag Hawks roster was buoyed by sophomore sensation Dominique Wilkins as well as Dan Roundfield, Eddie Johnson, Johnny Davis and rookie point guard Doc Rivers.
The second-seeded Bucks won the first two games of the series handily (105-89 and 101-87) and looked to close the five-game series out quickly. Instead, the Hawks responded with a counter punch winning Game 3 (103-94) and winning a nail-biting Game 4 (100-97).
The Bucks — who had made the Eastern Conference Finals the year prior — were on the ropes staring down at one of the NBA’s all-time first-round upsets. Milwaukee responded with a tremendous Game 5 that saw all five Bucks starters (Moncrief, Johnson, Lanier, Mike Dunleavy and Alton Lister) score in double figures. Even reserves Paul Pressey (15 points) and Junior Bridgeman (11) got in on the action as well.
Wilkins struggled from the field shooting just 6-of-19 and despite a huge game from Rivers (21 points), the Hawks were sent home.
Milwaukee would once again make a run to the Eastern Conference Finals but this time would meet their demise in five games to the eventual NBA champion and one of the best teams in NBA history: the 1984 Boston Celtics.
Bucks vs Hawks: 1988 Eastern Conference first round
Four years later, the Bucks and the Hawks would meet again. This time under very different circumstances.
Milwaukee, after years of failing to break through the Eastern Conference (including three Eastern Conference Finals berths), parted way with Nelson and brought in new head coach Del Harris.
Atlanta had emerged as a real contender in the East with back-to-back Eastern Conference Semifinals berths and two 50-win seasons.
This No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed matchup followed the template of the 1984 series but with the roles reversed. Atlanta jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the series before Milwaukee stormed back to win the next two, setting up a pivotal Game 5.
A huge 33-point game from Wilkins plus contributions from future NBA coaches Randy Wittman (29 points) and Rivers (14 points, 15 assists) helped Milwaukee return to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the third-straight season.
For Milwaukee, nothing but disappointment as the coaching change and re-tooling of the roster resulted in the team failing to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1979.
Atlanta’s season would end in the next round as, well, you guessed it, the Boston Celtics beat them. Atlanta made it a series taking the Celtics to seven games but ultimately fell. Boston would lose in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons.
Bucks vs Hawks: 1989 Eastern Conference first round
We wouldn’t have to wait long to see the Hawks and the Bucks battle in the playoffs again as the two teams met in the Eastern Conference First Round the following season (1988-89) and you’ll never guess it but they went five games.
This time the series — once again a No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed matchup — was like a heavyweight boxing fight with each team countering the other. Atlanta won the first game (100-92) and Milwaukee took the second (108-98). Milwaukee went up 2-1 with a 117-113 win in Game 3 and Atlanta forced a Game 5 with a 113-106 victory.
Game 5 was a tightly-contested contest throughout but Ricky Pierce‘s 25 points off the bench were too much for the Hawks to handle despite a throwback 25-point performance by Hawks veteran Moses Malone.
Bucks vs Hawks: 2010 Eastern Conference first round
After seeing one another several times in the 80s, these two franchises would miss one another in the playoffs until 2010 when once again they faced off in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Atlanta was still navigating out of their doldrums in the 2000s under head coach Mike Woodson and a talented, deep team highlighted by Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Marvin Williams and Mike Bibby.
Milwaukee was in the playoffs for the first time since 2006 under second-year head coach Scott Skiles. Rookie Brandon Jennings joined center Andrew Bogut and veterans John Salmons, Michael Redd and helped the Bucks win 46 games and return to the postseason.
As is customary with these two teams, they went the full seven games in the series. Pinch me if you’ve heard this before but the Hawks won the first two, Milwaukee stormed back to tie the series at two. Milwaukee won a huge game five (91-87) to get the series led by laid an egg in Game 6 (83-69) setting up the big Game 7.
And, well, that game wasn’t very good either. Jennings shot just 6-18 from the field, Bogut didn’t play, Salmons shot under 30 percent from the field and they needed 13 off the bench from Ersan Ilyasova to remain competitive.
Despite Johnson failing to score in double figures, Atlanta cruised to the 95-74 victory. They would move on to face the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and well, they left their energy in Milwaukee as they were swept in four games.
Atlanta would go on to make the playoffs every year until 2018 when they began a rebuild and a youth movement drafting the key pieces on this year’s Eastern Conference Finals team including Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter.
Milwaukee would struggle through the remainder of Skiles’ era before striking gold on a Detroit Pistons castoff in Khris Middleton and a young Greek prodigy in Giannis Antetokounmpo.