2006 Milwaukee Bucks: Blunted Optimism

After reaching the conference finals and losing a controversial seven-game series in 2001, the Bucks had fallen on hard times. In 2005, they struggled to a 30-52 season. When the lottery balls fell their way, the 2006 Milwaukee Bucks got an opportunity to rebuild with the first overall pick in the draft. They selected center Andrew Bogut. Optimism ran high. The Bucks improved and got back into the playoffs, but the hopes for a lasting era of success would not materalize.

Bogut, still in a learning phase, only averaged nine points per game, but he combined with forward Jammal Magloire to hit the boards and helped shore up the middle. Milwaukee got their offensive juice from Michael Reed, a 25ppg scorer. T. J. Ford, a skilled ballhandler who averaged seven assists per game, also chipped in double-digit scoring. So did Bobby Simmons. While the Bucks were still a problematic team defensively, their offense ranked in the middle of the league.

Milwaukee played well early in the season. They knocked off the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had LeBron James starting to come into his own. By the end of December, Milwaukee was 16-11 and had the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

After a 93-92 win over the Chicago Bulls, another team on the playoff bubble, the Bucks started to slip. They lost four of five, including twice to Cleveland. Milwaukee lost three games to the league’s elite—San Antonio, along with the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons.

By the end of January, the Bucks were 23-21 and down to sixth in the East. With eight teams making the playoffs in each conference, Milwaukee was only two games ahead of ninth-place Chicago.

It was more of the same in February, as the record nudged downward to 29-28, and by the end of March, the Bucks were at .500 on the nose. The record was 36-36. The good news was that the Eastern Conference was clearly inferior to the West in this era, that record was still good for sixth in the East and they had a four-game cushion on the Bulls, who were still in ninth place.

The playoffs were in sight with less than three weeks to play, but Milwaukee stumbled. They went into a difficult schedule stretch against the eventual champion Miami Heat, and solid playoff teams in the Memphis Grizzlies and New Jersey Nets. The Bucks lost all three, and tacked on a defeat to the lowly Orlando Magic for good measure. With the Bulls getting hot, there were four teams in a nail-biting race for the final three playoff berths, including the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers.

On a Wednesday night at home, Milwaukee faced the playoff-bound Washington Wizards. Redd knocked down 24 points. Bogut scored 17. The Bucks’ bench outscored their Wizard counterparts 33-7. A clutch 100-97 win put Milwaukee back on track. They followed it up with a win over a bad New York Knicks team.

With the 76ers fading, it was enough to clinch a playoff spot with two games to play. The Bucks finished 40-42 and ended up as the 8-seed. But they were in.

Detroit had set the pace in the entire league all season long, so the Bucks took on the Pistons. Detroit was a battle-tested team who had won the title in 2004 and reached Game 7 of the Finals in 2005. Milwaukee went on the road and decisively lost the first two games of the best-of-seven series.

Redd put on a show for the hometown crowd in Game 3, dropping 40 points, while Ford had 15 assists. The Bucks got a 124-104 win and heightened the interest in Game 4. But while Redd and Ford were ready, combining for 54 points, the defensive problems showed. Milwaukee allowed Detroit to shoot 55 percent and lost 109-99. The series was all but over. Redd had a good Game 5 on the road, scoring 23 points, but he had no help, and a 122-93 rout ended the season.

Returning to the playoffs was still a nice start to what the franchise hoped would be the dawn of a new era. Alas, it wasn’t to be. While Bogut had a long career, he never blossomed into a great player. The Bucks remained stuck in a cycle. Over 17 seasons from 2002-18, they were in a pattern where they made the playoffs every couple of years, were never taken seriously, and lost in the first round. The 2006 Milwaukee Bucks campaign fit the pattern.