The 1979 Washington Bullets (#17) @ The 1971 Milwaukee Bucks (#1)
Overall:
Record: ‘71 Bucks, 66 wins (3rd) > ‘79 Bullets, 54 wins (19th)
RSRS: ‘71 Bucks, +11.92 (1st) > ‘79 Bullets, +4.75 (19th)
PSRS: ‘71 Bucks, +16.98 (1st) > ‘79 Bullets, +1.97 (31st)
When the '79 Bullets have Possession:
Overall Comparison, '79 Bullets’ offense vs '71 Bucks' defense:
Regular Season: +3.6 Offensive Rating (7th) vs -4.1 Defensive Rating (9th): -0.5 expected
Playoffs: -0.4 Offensive Rating (33rd) vs -9.1 Defensive Rating (2nd): -9.5 expected
Lineup:
PG: Tom Henderson, 15.5% SS on -1.1% rTS, 10.1 / 2.2 / 5.6 / 1.2: -0.9 playoff OBPM
SG: Kevin Grevey, 24.3% SS on -3.6% rTS, 14.6 / 3.4 / 2.3 / 0.8: -2.2 playoff OBPM
SF: Bob Dandridge, 24.2% SS on +2.3% rTS, 19.2 / 5.4 / 4.4 / 1.5: +4.2 playoff OBPM
PF: Elvin Hayes, 24.4% SS on -0.7% rTS, 20.5 / 11.4 / 1.6 / 3.0: +2.0 playoff OBPM
C: Wes Unseld, 12.9% SS on +6.9% rTS, 10.2 / 10.1 / 3.8 / 1.3: +2.0 playoff OBPM
When the '71 Bucks have Possession:
Overall Comparison, '71 Bucks' offense vs '79 Bullets' defense:
Regular Season: +6.7 Offensive Rating (1st) vs -1.1 Defensive Rating (31st): +5.6 expected
Playoffs: +4.9 Offensive Rating (7th) vs -2.3 Defensive Rating (24th): +2.6 expected
Lineup:
PG: Oscar Robertson, 19.5% SS on +6.3% rTS, 17.1 / 5.0 / 7.2
SG: Jon McGlocklin, 17.7% SS on +6.3% rTS, 13.9 / 2.4 / 3.3
SF: Bob Dandridge, 20.8% SS on +4.5% rTS, 16.2 / 7.1 / 3.1
PF: Greg Smith, 16.4% SS on +3.7% rTS, 10.3 / 6.3 / 2.5
C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 29.1% SS on +10.6% rTS, 28.0 / 14.1 / 2.9
6th: Lucius Allen, 17.2% SS on -1.5% rTS, 6.3 / 2.2 / 2.3
7th: Bob Boozer, 18.2% SS on +0.2% rTS, 8.0 / 4.8 / 1.4
Thoughts:
- Injuries: No injuries.
- The ‘79 Bullets . . . their playoffs honestly weren’t that good. The Hawks and Spurs were both about league average, and it took the Bullets 7 games to finish off each of them (and between them the MoV was almost dead even). And then they got whipped by the ‘79 Sonics. Now there’s reason to think that the Bullets were better than they appeared on the basis of their consistent years of postseason excellence. But is that fair? The next year they returned most of their cast (specifically Unseld, Hayes and Dandridge), finished below 500 and were swept out of the first round by double digits. Are we sure that this storied franchise hadn’t simply run out of gas by the postseason of ‘79, and only stumbled into the Finals by virtue of weak playoff opponents? That said, perhaps there’s reason to be optimistic here. The ‘71 Bullets were still a reasonably new franchise to title contention, and they were wildly, brutally and completely outclassed by the ‘71 Bucks. Maybe with their veteran experience they might do better?
- My opponent would have you believe that the ‘71 Bullets were new to postseason contention. But the year prior they had played the 1970 Knicks to 7 games, losing by only 1.6 points per game, playing them about as tight as the Lakers would. And in 1971 the Bullets would beat the Knicks by over 5 points per game. The ‘71 Bullets were clearly an extremely competent postseason team, tangling with the dynastic Knicks twice in two years and each time holding their own extremely well. There is every reason to think that the Bullets were a completely legitimate title contender.
Who the ‘71 Bucks swept by 12 points a game.
The prosecution rests, your honor.
I’m going to put this up for 48 hours, unless I need to keep it open for a tie-breaker.
Post with who you would pick to win this series, ideally with the number of games. And if you have any insight into these players or matchups beyond what is above please don't hesitate to post; the goal (as always) is for us all to walk away with more knowledge than we started with. We always have more to learn!
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