40 Fun Facts About 1970-71 NBA Season

Which team did the Milwaukee Bucks sweep in the 1971 NBA Finals, the first between two expansion teams?

The Baltimore Bullets had to open the Finals just 48 hours after winning a Game 7 on the road, and Milwaukee never let them catch their breath.

Which 10-year veteran guard did the Milwaukee Bucks acquire by trade in April 1970 to pair with Lew Alcindor?

Oscar Robertson had never won a title in ten seasons with Cincinnati, and Milwaukee gave up only Flynn Robinson and Charlie Paulk to get him.

Which name did Bucks center Lew Alcindor begin using publicly in 1971, after winning his first NBA championship?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had taken the name privately after converting to Islam in 1968, and asked to be called by it at a June 1971 press conference.

Which first-year NBA team, coached by Bill Fitch, opened the 1970-71 season by losing its first 15 games?

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished 15-67, the worst record in the league, and the franchise did not have another season that bad until 1981-82.

The Buffalo Braves debuted in 1970-71 and, two relocations later, became which NBA franchise?

The Los Angeles Clippers began as the Braves, who left Buffalo for San Diego in 1978 and moved up the coast in 1984.

The San Diego Rockets played their last California season in 1970-71 before new owners moved them to which city?

Houston investors bought the Rockets for $5.6 million in June 1971, five months after San Diego hosted its only NBA All-Star Game.

Which LSU scoring sensation joined the Atlanta Hawks as the third pick of the 1970 NBA draft?

Pete Maravich averaged 23.2 points as a rookie, though several veteran teammates resented the $1.9 million contract Atlanta had given him.

Which heavyweight boxing great did Lakers center Wilt Chamberlain challenge to a fight in 1971 before backing out?

Muhammad Ali had just suffered his first professional loss, to Joe Frazier; the bout was set for the Houston Astrodome in July 1971 until Chamberlain pulled out.

The 1971 NBA Finals was the first since 1956 to feature neither Wilt Chamberlain nor which other 1960s superstar?

Bill Russell had retired in 1969 after 11 titles with Boston, and Chamberlain's Lakers fell to Milwaukee one round short of the Finals.

Which Boston Celtics rookie shared the 1970-71 NBA Rookie of the Year award with Portland guard Geoff Petrie?

Dave Cowens went on to win the league MVP award two years later, and the 1971 vote was the first time the rookie honor had ever been shared.

Which defending NBA champion lost Game 7 of the 1971 Eastern Conference finals by two points at home?

The New York Knicks saw the home team win each of the first six games of the series, then dropped the decider in front of their own crowd.

Dick Motta was named 1970-71 NBA Coach of the Year after guiding which fifth-year franchise to 51 wins?

The Chicago Bulls leaned on Bob Love, Chet Walker and Jerry Sloan, and Motta followed with three more 50-win seasons in a row.

Which Los Angeles Lakers guard was lost to a season-ending injury with 13 games left in the 1970-71 season?

Jerry West was averaging 26.9 points when he went down, and the depleted Lakers lost the conference finals to Milwaukee in five games.

Wilt Chamberlain, at age 34, led the NBA in which statistical category for the Lakers in 1970-71?

Rebounding stayed Chamberlain's domain at 18.2 boards a game, while Lew Alcindor, ten years his junior, took the scoring title.

Which Seattle SuperSonics player-coach was named MVP of the 1971 NBA All-Star Game in San Diego?

Lenny Wilkens scored 21 points in a 108-107 thriller; in 1969 he had become only the second Black head coach in NBA history.

Which St. Bonaventure center did the Detroit Pistons select first overall in the 1970 NBA draft?

Bob Lanier averaged 15.6 points as a rookie while still recovering from the knee injury that had kept him out of the 1970 Final Four.

A 1970 antitrust lawsuit by players blocked the NBA's planned merger with which rival league?

The American Basketball Association had 11 teams when NBA owners voted 13-4 to merge in June 1970; the players' suit delayed the union until 1976.

Which young forward joined Seattle in 1970-71 and beat the NBA's four-year eligibility rule at the Supreme Court?

Spencer Haywood had left college after his sophomore year, and his win let players enter the draft without waiting four years after high school.

Which Detroit Pistons guard made the 1970-71 All-NBA First Team and was later elected mayor of the city?

Dave Bing averaged 27.0 points in the Pistons' first winning season since leaving Fort Wayne, then ran Detroit's city hall from 2009 to 2014.

Which Boston Celtics swingman averaged a career-high 28.9 points and led the NBA in minutes in 1970-71?

John Havlicek played 45.4 minutes a night and also set career highs in rebounds and assists, yet Boston still missed the playoffs.

Milwaukee's Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen had won national titles together at which college?

UCLA went unbeaten with both on its freshman team, and Milwaukee reunited them by trading with Seattle for Allen before the season.

Which team's 48-34 record in 1970-71 was then the best ever for a club that missed the NBA playoffs?

The Phoenix Suns had the league's fourth-best record but finished third in a loaded division, while Atlanta reached the postseason at 36-46.

Which newly created NBA division did Milwaukee and Detroit join when the league realigned for the 1970-71 season?

Midwest Division teams sat in the Western Conference, and that spring Milwaukee became the first club from the new division to win the NBA title.

Which future Lakers coach did Portland pick in the 1970 expansion draft, then sell before opening night?

Pat Riley had spent three seasons with the San Diego Rockets; Portland signed him in August 1970 and sold him to Los Angeles seven weeks later.

Which Boston Celtics legend was head coach of the Cincinnati Royals during the 1970-71 NBA season?

Bob Cousy built a young, fast-breaking team that scored 116 points a game but gave up 119, and it missed the playoffs.

Which future Hall of Fame guard, nicknamed Tiny, did Cincinnati take in the second round of the 1970 draft?

Nate Archibald went 19th overall out of Texas-El Paso, and in his third season he led the NBA in both scoring and assists.

Which former 76ers guard coached the Milwaukee Bucks to the 1971 NBA title three years after their debut?

Larry Costello had been the Bucks' only coach since their 1968 debut, and his 1970-71 team lost its second game, then won 16 straight.

Which TV network, with Chris Schenkel and Jack Twyman calling the games, broadcast the 1971 NBA Finals?

ABC made the series Schenkel and Twyman's last playoff assignment, and lost the league's national contract to CBS two years later.

In which Wisconsin college town did the Bucks play home games during the 1971 playoffs because of arena conflicts?

Madison's University of Wisconsin Field House hosted all three Milwaukee home games of the opening round against San Francisco.

After 1970-71 the San Francisco Warriors moved to Oakland and replaced the city in their name with what?

Golden State was chosen to suggest the team represented all of California, and the franchise kept the label even after returning to San Francisco in 2019.

Which 5-foot-9 rookie guard made the 1970-71 NBA All-Rookie Team with the San Diego Rockets?

Calvin Murphy averaged 15.8 points in his first season; before basketball, he had won a national championship as a baton twirler.

Which San Diego Rockets forward averaged a career-best 28.7 points in 1970-71, his third NBA season?

Elvin Hayes, nicknamed the Big E, had led the NBA in scoring as a rookie two years earlier, and no first-year player has done it since.

Which second-year Bucks forward averaged 19.2 points in the 1971 playoffs and later won a title with Washington?

Bob Dandridge was a fourth-round pick in 1969, the same draft that brought Lew Alcindor to Milwaukee with the first overall choice.

Which guard rejoined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970 in a trade that sent center Mel Counts away?

Gail Goodrich had been lost in an expansion draft two years earlier, and back in Los Angeles he averaged 17.5 points as a starter.

Which Hall of Fame forward, a longtime Syracuse Nationals star, was the first head coach of the Buffalo Braves?

Dolph Schayes won 22 games with the expansion roster in 1970-71 and was fired one game into the following season.

Which NBA commissioner, a former mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, ran the league during 1970-71?

Walter Kennedy ran the league from 1963 to 1975, and the NBA's annual citizenship award for community service is named after him.

Which 37-year-old Cincinnati Royals forward led the NBA in field goal percentage during the 1970-71 season?

Johnny Green shot .587 from the floor and was named an All-Star for the fourth time, six years after his previous selection.

Which San Francisco Warriors player-coach, nicknamed the Destroyer, retired as a player after the 1970-71 season?

Al Attles stayed on as head coach and guided the Rick Barry-led Warriors to the 1975 NBA championship as heavy underdogs.

Which forward, known for shattering three backboards in his career, made the 1970-71 All-NBA Second Team?

Gus Johnson averaged 17.1 rebounds that season and played through knee trouble all the way to the 1971 Finals.

Which forward nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid made his third straight All-NBA First Team in the 1970-71 season?

Billy Cunningham led Philadelphia with 23 points a game, and two years later he was voted MVP of a rival league in his first season there.