1977–78 Milwaukee Bucks season

1977–78 Milwaukee Bucks season
Head coach	Don Nelson
Arena	MECCA Arena
Results
Record	44–38 (.537)
Place	Division: 2nd (Midwest) Conference: 6th (Western)
Playoff finish	West Conference Semifinals (eliminated 3-4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com

The 1977-78 NBA season was the Bucks' tenth season in the NBA.^[1]

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	1	Kent Benson	C	United States	Indiana
1	3	Marques Johnson	SF	United States	UCLA
1	11	Ernie Grunfeld	SG/SF	Romania  United States	Tennessee
2	27	Glenn Williams		United States	St. John's
3	47	Gary Yoder	SG	United States	Cincinnati
4	69	Lewis Brown	C	United States	Nevada-Las Vegas
5	91	Ron Norwood		United States	DePaul
6	113	Chuck Goodyear		United States	Miami
7	134	Ron Bostic		United States	Detroit Mercy
8	154	Larry Pikes		United States	Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Roster

Milwaukee Bucks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From C 54 Benson, Kent 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Indiana SF 2 Bridgeman, Junior 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Louisville SG 21 Buckner, Quinn 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Indiana C 51 Eakins, Jim 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Brigham Young SF 22 English, Alex 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) South Carolina C 40 Gianelli, John 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Pacific SG 20 Grunfeld, Ernie 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Tennessee SF 8 Johnson, Marques 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 218 lb (99 kg) UCLA PF 7 Meyers, Dave 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) UCLA PG 11 Walton, Lloyd 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Marquette SG 32 Winters, Brian 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) South Carolina	Head coach Don Nelson Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Denver Nuggets	48	34	.585	–	33–8	15–26	11–9
x-Milwaukee Bucks	44	38	.537	4	28–13	16–25	14–6
Chicago Bulls	40	42	.488	8	29–12	11–30	8–12
Detroit Pistons	38	44	.463	10	24–17	14–27	8–12
Indiana Pacers	31	51	.378	17	21–20	10–31	8–12
Kansas City Kings	31	51	.378	17	22–19	9–32	11–9

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Portland Trail Blazers	58	24	.707	–
2	y-Denver Nuggets	48	34	.585	10
3	x-Phoenix Suns	49	33	.598	9
4	x-Seattle SuperSonics	47	35	.573	11
5	x-Los Angeles Lakers	45	37	.549	13
6	x-Milwaukee Bucks	44	38	.537	14
7	Golden State Warriors	43	39	.524	15
8	Chicago Bulls	40	42	.488	18
9	Detroit Pistons	38	44	.463	20
10	Indiana Pacers	31	51	.378	27
10	Kansas City Kings	31	51	.378	27

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1977-78 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	BUF	CHI	CLE	DEN	DET	GSW	HOU	IND	KCK	LAL	MIL	NJN	NOJ	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SAS	SEA	WAS
Atlanta	—	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–1	1–3
Boston	2–2	—	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–1	2–2	1–2	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	0–4	2–2	1–3	0–4	0–4	1–3
Buffalo	1–3	1–3	—	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	0–3	3–1	1–3	1–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	0–4	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3
Chicago	3–1	3–1	1–3	—	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	0–4	2–2	1–3	1–2	2–2	1–3	3–0	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–1
Cleveland	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	—	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–2	0–4	0–4	3–1	2–2
Denver	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	—	2–2	2–2	3–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	2–1	1–3	3–1
Detroit	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	—	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–0	0–4	0–4	2–2	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2
Golden State	3–1	2–2	3–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	—	2–1	3–1	3–1	0–4	2–2	3–1	0–4	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2
Houston	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–3	1–3	1–2	—	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	0–4	1–3
Indiana	1–3	1–2	3–1	1–3	1–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	—	2–2	1–3	0–4	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3	3–1
Kansas City	1–2	2–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	—	2–2	0–4	2–2	2–2	0–4	1–3	0–4	0–4	0–4	1–3	2–2
Los Angeles	1–3	2–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	—	3–1	4–0	2–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	0–4	2–2	1–3	2–2
Milwaukee	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	1–3	—	3–1	2–1	3–1	1–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1
New Jersey	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–4	1–3	—	0–4	1–3	0–4	2–2	0–3	0–4	2–2	2–2
New Orleans	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	1–2	4–0	—	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	1–3	2–2	0–4
New York	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	3–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	4–0	1–3	1–3	3–1	3–1	—	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–1	2–2
Philadelphia	2–2	4–0	3–1	1–3	3–1	3–1	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	3–1	—	2–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–2
Phoenix	1–3	2–2	4–0	2–2	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–2	—	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2
Portland	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	4–0	1–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	3–1	3–1	1–3	3–0	2–2	3–1	—	2–2	3–1	2–1
San Antonio	3–1	4–0	3–1	2–2	4–0	1–2	2–1	1–3	3–1	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	4–0	3–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	—	2–2	2–2
Seattle	1–2	4–0	3–1	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	4–0	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	2–2	—	1–3
Washington	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–2	2–2	3–1	—

Playoffs

West First Round

(3) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks: Bucks win series 2-0

• Game 1 @ Phoenix: Milwaukee 111, Phoenix 103
• Game 2 @ Milwaukee: Milwaukee 94, Phoenix 90

West Conference Semifinals

(2) Denver Nuggets vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks: Nuggets win series 4-3

• Game 1 @ Denver: Denver 119, Milwaukee 103
• Game 2 @ Denver: Denver 127, Milwaukee 111
• Game 3 @ Milwaukee: Milwaukee 143, Denver 112
• Game 4 @ Milwaukee: Denver 118, Milwaukee 114
• Game 5 @ Denver: Milwaukee 117, Denver 112
• Game 6 @ Milwaukee: Milwaukee 119, Denver 91
• Game 7 @ Denver: Denver 116, Milwaukee 110

Awards and records

• Quinn Buckner, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
• Marques Johnson, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team
• On Friday, November 25, 1977, the day after Thanksgiving, and on the road, the Bucks overcame the largest 4th quarter deficit in NBA history, defeating the Atlanta Hawks after being down by 29 points with only 8:43 left in the game. Atlanta led 111-82 before Milwaukee went on a 35-4 run to win 117-115 in regulation. This record was set without the use of the three-point field goal, since its NBA inception was not until the 1979-80 season.

References

1. 1977-78 Milwaukee Bucks