- 1971 NBA Playoffs
The 1971
NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of theNational Basketball Association 's 1970-1971 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference championMilwaukee Bucks defeating the Eastern Conference champion Baltimore Bullets, four games to none in the NBA Finals.Led by Finals MVP and the previous season's Rookie of the Year
Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) andOscar Robertson , the Bucks not only became the fastest expansion team in NBA history to win the championship (a record thatas of 2006 they still hold), but they did so in dominating fashion, finishing 12-2 in the playoffs with an unheard of 14.5 points postseason average point differential [http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MIL/1971_games.html 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks Games - Basketball-Reference.com] ] .The playoff format was changed from the previous two-division format. There were now four divisions, with each division qualifying its champion and second-place team. In the conference semifinals, the champion of each division played the second place team in the other, with the divisional champion having home-court advantage. The two conference semifinals winners then played for the conference championship.
This was the first NBA Finals appearance for the Baltimore Bullets, and would be their only trip to the championship round in Baltimore; they would make three more appearances (winning one championship) later in this decade.
The 1971 playoffs would be the last for the
San Francisco Warriors under that moniker; the following season, symbolizing their already-established home base of Oakland, they changed their name to the Golden State Warriors.3RoundBracket-Byes | RD1= Conference Semifinals
RD2= Conference Finals
RD3= NBA Finals
group1=Western Conference
group2=Eastern ConferenceRD1-seed1=M1
RD1-team1=Milwaukee
RD1-score1=4
RD1-seed2=P2
RD1-team2=San Francisco
RD1-score2=1RD1-seed3=M2
RD1-team3=Chicago
RD1-score3=3
RD1-seed4=P1
RD1-team4=L.A. Lakers
RD1-score4=4RD1-seed5=A1
RD1-team5=New York
RD1-score5=4
RD1-seed6=C2
RD1-team6=Atlanta
RD1-score6=1RD1-seed7=A2
RD1-team7=Philadelphia
RD1-score7=3
RD1-seed8=C1
RD1-team8=Baltimore
RD1-score8=4RD2-seed1=M1
RD2-team1=Milwaukee
RD2-score1=4
RD2-seed2=P1
RD2-team2=L.A. Lakers
RD2-score2=1RD2-seed3=A1
RD2-team3=New York
RD2-score3=3
RD2-seed4=C1
RD2-team4=Baltimore
RD2-score4=4RD3-seed1=M1
RD3-team1=Milwaukee
RD3-score1=4
RD3-seed2=C1
RD3-team2=Baltimore
RD3-score2=0References
External links
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1971.html Basketball-Reference.com's 1971 NBA Playoffs page]
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