The 1971–72 Milwaukee Bucks season was the fourth season in franchise history.[1] Led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Bucks finished in first place in the Midwest Division. Abdul-Jabbar won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award ahead of Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Lakers. On January 9, 1972, the Bucks snapped the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | School/Club Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Collis Jones | University of Notre Dame | ||
| 3 | 51 | Gary Brell | Marquette University | ||
z – clinched division title
y – clinched division title
x – clinched playoff spot
| 1971–72 NBA Records | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=100 | Team | ATL | BAL | BOS | BUF | CHI | CIN | CLE | DET | GSW | HOU | LAL | MIL | NYK | PHI | PHO | POR | SEA |
| Atlanta | – | 2–4 | 0–4 | 4–2 | 0–5 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–4 | |
| Baltimore | 4–2 | – | 2–2 | 3–3 | 1–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | |
| Boston | 4–0 | 2–2 | – | 6–0 | 3–2 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 5–0 | 2–3 | 5–0 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 2–3 | |
| Buffalo | 2–4 | 3–3 | 0–6 | – | 1–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 0–4 | |
| Chicago | 5–0 | 4–1 | 2–3 | 3–1 | – | 3–1 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 1–3 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 6–0 | 2–3 | |
| Cincinnati | 3–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 1–3 | – | 6–2 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 0–4 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–5 | |
| Cleveland | 2–4 | 5–1 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 2–6 | – | 1–3 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 4–2 | 0–4 | |
| Detroit | 2–3 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 3–1 | – | 0–5 | 3–3 | 1–4 | 1–5 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 0–4 | |
| Golden State | 2–3 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 5–0 | – | 5–1 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 4–1 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | |
| Houston | 4–1 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 4–0 | 1–5 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 1–5 | – | 1–5 | 0–5 | 0–5 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | |
| Los Angeles | 5–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | – | 4–1 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 4–2 | 6–0 | 5–1 | |
| Milwaukee | 3–2 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 1–4 | – | 2–3 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 6–0 | 6–0 | |
| New York | 1–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 1–4 | 3–2 | – | 3–3 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 3–2 | |
| Philadelphia | 3–3 | 0–4 | 0–6 | 3–3 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 3–3 | – | 1–4 | 2–2 | 4–1 | |
| Phoenix | 2–3 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 4–1 | 4–1 | – | 6–0 | 3–2 | |
| Portland | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 4–2 | 0–6 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 0–6 | 0–6 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–6 | – | 0–6 | |
| Seattle | 4–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 0–6 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 6–0 | — | |
|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 1 || October 14, 1971 || @ Phoenix| W 110–97|||| Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum| 1–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 2 || October 16, 1971 || @ Seattle| W 98–91|||| Seattle Center Coliseum| 2–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 3 || October 17, 1971 || @ Portland| W 127–94|||| Memorial Coliseum| 3–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 4 || October 19, 1971 || Cleveland| W 116–82|||| Milwaukee Arena| 4–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 5 || October 22, 1971 || Buffalo| W 124–105|||| Milwaukee Arena| 5–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 6 || October 23, 1971 || @ Philadelphia| W 110–88|||| The Spectrum| 6–0|-style="background:#bbffbb;"| 7 || October 26, 1971 || Baltimore| W 120–90|||| Milwaukee Arena| 7–0
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc"| 1| March 28| Golden State| L 106–117| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (28)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (15)| Lucius Allen (8)| Milwaukee Arena
9,877| 0–1|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 2| March 30| Golden State| W 118–93| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (25)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (22)| Oscar Robertson (9)| Milwaukee Arena
10,746| 1–1|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 3| April 1| @ Golden State| W 122–94| Abdul-Jabbar, Dandridge (23)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (16)| Oscar Robertson (14)| Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
13,502| 2–1|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 4| April 4| @ Golden State| W 106–99| Bob Dandridge (31)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (20)| Oscar Robertson (11)| Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
12,986| 3–1|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 5| April 6| Golden State| W 108–100| Bob Dandridge (29)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (22)| Oscar Robertson (8)| Milwaukee Arena
10,746| 4–1|-|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 1| April 9| @ Los Angeles| W 93–72| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33)| Curtis Perry (23)| Oscar Robertson (10)| The Forum
17,505| 1–0|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc"| 2| April 12| @ Los Angeles| L 134–135| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (40)| Curtis Perry (12)| Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson (7)| The Forum
17,505| 1–1|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc"| 3| April 14| Los Angeles| L 105–108| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (21)| Abdul-Jabbar, Allen (6)| Milwaukee Arena
10,746| 1–2|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc"| 4| April 16| Los Angeles| W 114–88| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (31)| Curtis Perry (19)| Oscar Robertson (10)| Milwaukee Arena
10,746| 2–2|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc"| 5| April 18| @ Los Angeles| L 90–115| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (28)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (16)| Bob Dandridge (4)| The Forum
17,505| 2–3|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc"| 6| April 22| Los Angeles| L 100–104| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (37)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (25)| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (8)| Milwaukee Arena
10,746| 2–4|-
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 44.2 | 57.4 | 68.9 | 16.6 | 4.6 | 34.8 | ||||||
| Bob Dandridge | 80 | 37.0 | 49.8 | 73.9 | 7.7 | 3.1 | 18.4 | |||||
| Oscar Robertson | 64 | 37.3 | 47.2 | 83.6 | 5.0 | 7.7 | 17.4 | |||||
| Lucius Allen | 80 | 29.0 | 50.5 | 76.4 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 13.5 | |||||
| 80 | 27.7 | 51.0 | 86.5 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 10.7 | ||||||
| John Block | 79 | 19.3 | 44.0 | 74.9 | 5.2 | 1.2 | 8.5 | |||||
| Greg Smith | 28 | 26.3 | 49.0 | 70.7 | 5.8 | 2.3 | 8.4 | |||||
| Wali Jones | 48 | 21.5 | 40.7 | 82.2 | 1.6 | 2.9 | 7.5 | |||||
| Curtis Perry | 50 | 29.4 | 38.5 | 67.4 | 9.4 | 1.6 | 7.0 | |||||
| Toby Kimball | 74 | 13.1 | 46.7 | 54.3 | 4.2 | 0.8 | 3.5 | |||||
| McCoy McLemore | 10 | 9.9 | 32.1 | 91.7 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 2.9 | |||||
| Charlie Lowery | 20 | 6.7 | 44.7 | 61.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.3 | |||||
| Bill Dinwiddie | 23 | 6.3 | 28.1 | 55.6 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | |||||
| Jeff Webb | 19 | 5.7 | 25.7 | 84.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.5 | |||||
| Barry Nelson | 28 | 3.6 | 41.7 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 |
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 46.4 | 43.7 | 70.4 | 18.2 | 5.1 | 28.7 | ||||||
| Bob Dandridge | 11 | 40.1 | 49.5 | 74.0 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 21.5 | |||||
| Lucius Allen | 11 | 35.1 | 47.0 | 75.9 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 17.9 | |||||
| Oscar Robertson | 11 | 34.5 | 40.7 | 83.3 | 5.8 | 7.5 | 13.1 | |||||
| Wali Jones | 9 | 22.2 | 43.9 | 85.7 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 10.0 | |||||
| Curtis Perry | 11 | 36.1 | 47.3 | 78.3 | 12.8 | 1.3 | 9.5 | |||||
| Jon McGlocklin | 5 | 20.6 | 42.9 | 83.3 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 7.0 | |||||
| John Block | 11 | 14.2 | 38.5 | 83.3 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 5.0 | |||||
| Toby Kimball | 7 | 5.1 | 41.7 | 100.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.7 | |||||
| Charlie Lowery | 7 | 3.7 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | |||||
| Barry Nelson | 2 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| September 12, 1971 | To Milwaukee Bucks---- | To Houston Rockets---- | |
| December 9, 1971 | To Milwaukee Bucks---- | To Houston Rockets---- |