Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 74 days remaining.The Milwaukee Bucks were once the envy of – and the beacon for -- every expansion team in any professional sport, winning a championship in just the third year of existence. They returned to the NBA Finals in Year 6, losing this time but still making it all look so easy.
That was 1974, the end of their incredible start -- and the beginning of an incredibly long dry spell that continues today. Yes, they have had some success since -- three more trips to the conference finals -- but everything has paled in comparison to the standard they set in those formative years.
That '73-'74 season ended with a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in Milwaukee, the final game ever played by the great Oscar Robertson. It was a wonderful Finals that included a double-overtime Game 6 victory by the Bucks in Boston, giving them the momentum they surprisingly failed to sustain back at home.
The Bucks sudden rise and sustained fall was traced directly to the arrival and departure of the veteran Robertson and a young Kareem Abdul Jabbar – drafted No. 1 from UCLA as Lew Alcindor in 1969.
Robertson joined Alcindor before that championship season, providing the perfect compliment to the game's finest big man. They won 66 regular season games together and swept the Washington Bullets in the Finals.
When Robertson retired after the '74 season, the Bucks struggled. Abdul-Jabbar missed the first 16 games with a broken hand – they went 3-13 without their star – and they failed even to reach the playoffs that season.
Shortly after the season ended, the Bucks traded Abdul-Jabbar – at his request – to the Los Angeles Lakers for far inferior talent. Abdul-Jabbar, a recent convert to the Muslim religion, no longer wanted to live in Milwaukee. He gave the Bucks no choice.
He helped the Lakers win five more NBA titles, while the Bucks could only watch wistfully and wonder what might have been. He retired in 1989 with 38,387 points, still the most in NBA history. He reached the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, where he joined Robertson once again.
Robertson remains the last player in NBA history to average a triple-double through the course of a season (1961-62 in Cincinnati.). It wasn't until late in his career, after joining Abdul Jabbar, that he won his first championship and reached the Finals for the second time in '74.
Only once in the last 35 years have the Bucks won more games than the 59 they won in '74. They won 60 in 1980-81, only to lose their first-round playoffs series. With Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar, along with Bobby Dandridge and Lucious Allen, they made history as an expansion team.
But they set a standard that they never could match.
LOOK: How Bad Are Your State's Bridges?
French Soldier Stabbed In The Neck In Paris
Joe Arpaio Violated Latinos' Rights, Judge Rules
Report: Yahoo Is Bidding On Hulu
Bombshell Report Alleges Toronto Mayor's Family Ties With Drug World
WATCH: Journalist Slams Obama For 'Embrace Of Total Militarism'
Pacers Steal Game 2 In Miami
Pharma Giant Accused Of Paying Doctors To Push Drug
Friend Of London Attack Suspect Arrested After BBC Interview
West Shoots Down 'Doubt' About Reemergence
Marine Recruit's Letter Claims Boot Camp Instructors Hurl Anti-Gay Slurs
CNN Anchor Calls Obama Protester 'Rude' And 'Crazy'
Abercrombie Announces Plummeting Sales Amid Controversy
LOOK: Why We Celebrate Memorial Day
Fox News Host's Outrageous Comment
Gay Soccer Player Returns To MLS
150 After Battle, Drummer To Recreate Reunion March
Female Suicide Bomber Injures 18 In Russian Region
Sectarian Violence Comes Back To Life In Iraq
Christopher Hayes: London Terror
Ohio Kidnapping Hero Disavows Free Burger Offers
State Investigating Threat Over Brewer Push
The iPhone Might Get A Lot Sleeker Very Soon
WHOOPS! Obama Makes Big Gaffe
GOP Senator: Obama Speech A 'Victory' For 'Terrorists'
Toronto Mayor: I Don't Smoke Crack
Ann Coulter's Wild Conspiracy Theory
GOP Rep Tells Woman She Should Have Carried Brain-Dead Fetus To Term, Just In Case
Wife Of Beheaded British Soldier's Heartbreaking Interview
Gay Teen Charged With Felonies Over Relationship Refuses Plea Deal
