The 1971 NBA Finals was the championship series played at the conclusion of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA)'s 25th anniversary season of 1970–71. The Western Conference champion

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

, who were founded as an expansion team three years earlier, swept the Eastern Conference champion Baltimore Bullets in four games. Baltimore had dethroned the 1969–70 NBA champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bucks were the first Western Conference champions to win the league's championship since the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

did so in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, and were the first expansion team in the NBA to win a championship since the NBA held its first

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

. (The Bullets originally started out as the

Chicago Packers The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

, an expansion team that began play in before moving to Baltimore in 1963.) It was also the first NBA title by a Western Conference team that has not since folded or relocated. The Bullets were forced to play Game 1 on a Wednesday night, just 48 hours after having defeated New York in Game 7 of the 1971 Eastern Conference Finals, then had to wait four days before playing Game 2. The series was the second (and last) time in NBA history that the teams alternated home games, the other being in . Most other series were held in the 2-2-1-1-1 or 2-3-2 format (a 1-2-2-1-1 format was used in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and 1978). It was also the last NBA Championship Series completed before May 1. The series was broadcast by ABC with

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and bar ...

and

Jack Twyman John Kennedy Twyman (May 21, 1934 – May 30, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and sports broadcaster. Twyman is a namesake of the NBA's Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. Twyman was inducted into the Naismith Basketb ...

providing the commentary. Until

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, it was the Bucks' only and the city's second championship (with the other being the Braves). The city's 49-year drought was the fourth longest title drought in the "Big 4" major professional sports leagues, behind Buffalo, San Diego and Vancouver.

Series summary

''Bucks win series 4–0''

Team rosters

Milwaukee Bucks

Baltimore Bullets

Notes

References

External links

NBA HistoryMilwaukee Bucks: Looking Back At The 1971 NBA FinalsSports Illustrated: Oscar and the Bucks are No. 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:1971 NBA Finals

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

National Basketball Association Finals NBA Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) NBA Finals NBA Finals Sports competitions in Milwaukee Sports competitions in Baltimore 1970s in Baltimore 1970s in Milwaukee April 1971 sports events in the United States