Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook nets big victory
With the sports world on hold, we recently gave you the 50 greatest moments in Wisconsin sports history over the past 50 years. What about the next 10 that just missed the list? This is No. 51.
The term “skyhook” showed up in newspaper game recaps from time to time before May 10, 1974, but it became a regular part of our collective basketball vocabulary when Kareem AbdulJabbar sent the NBA Finals to a seventh game.
Bucks wordsmith broadcaster Eddie Doucette has been credited with coining the term, an effort to describe the maneuver that became Abdul-Jabbar’s go-to weapon.
“I dabbled with it a little bit prior to that but I really never said in my mind, ‘This is indelible,’ at all,” Doucette said in 2019. “(It was among) the plethora of terms I created back then and had so much fun with it, and skyhook was the one that really took off. (Abdul-Jabbar) wrote the book, I just gave it a title . ... He’s really himself given me full credit for that. It wasn’t about credit, it was about adding to the broadcast and give something else for the fans of Wisconsin to really grab onto and endear themselves to this team.”
Doucette called the phrasing a “pregnant term” that had potential but didn’t really catch on in the basketball consciousness until Jabbar momentarily saved the Bucks season at Boston Garden, hitting a skyhook with 3 seconds left in double overtime to give the Bucks a 102-101 victory in Game 6 of the 1974 NBA Finals.
“It was about 18 feet,” said Boston standout John Havlicek, who wound up winning MVP of the finals. “He was on the run and he actually ended up shooting it from behind the basket. Now tell me that’s not a tough shot.”
It was a play intended for someone else initially, yet one that added to Abdul-Jabbar’s legacy in Milwaukee before his departure a year later. The shot didn’t lead to a championship, but it was a thrilling high point in the golden era of Milwaukee Bucks basketball.
Havlicek is tough to stop
In truth, the Bucks were fortunate to be there. Havlicek missed a 6-foot shot at the buzzer that would have given the Celtics a win at the Milwaukee Arena in Game 2; instead, the game went to overtime, and Milwaukee prevailed, 105-96, to even the series at 1-1.
But Boston never trailed in the series, winning Game 3 in Boston and in Milwaukee in Game 5 after the Bucks won Game 4 in the Garden.
Abdul-Jabbar cleared 30 points in four of the five games, looking for the second championship in his young career. In Game 6, he added 34, with the final basket being the most impressive and capping a frenetic finish.
Boston rallied from an 11-point deficit and tied it, 86-86, when Dave Cowens hit an 18-foot shot with 1:05 left. But Cowens missed a hook shot with 9 seconds left, and the Bucks’ Jon McGlocklin missed a 15-footer at the buzzer, tweaking his balky calf in the process.
The Bucks had the ball with 13 seconds left in the first overtime, but Bob Dandridge lost a pass off his fingertips. Havlicek missed a 15-footer but followed it up with a putback to tie the game at 90-90 with 5 seconds left.
Mickey Davis hit a 15-footer with 24 seconds left to give the Bucks a 100-99 lead, but back came Havlicek. The Hall of Famer hit a rainbow jumper from the baseline, 15 feet away, over Abdul-Jabbar to give the Celtics a lead with 7 seconds left.
Milwaukee called timeout, and Oscar Robertson inbounded to Abdul-Jabbar.
“The shot was supposed to be by McGlocklin, but I just reacted and got the ball,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “(Henry) Finkel is different than Cowens because he has long arms. But I’m all right on that shot as long as I have my balance.”
Cowens had fouled out with just more than a minute left in the second OT. That brought in the 7-footer Finkel, but he didn’t have a chance.
“I played it as well as I could have,” Finkel said. “I made him take an extra step. But you don’t stop a great shooter like he is.”
The 7-2 big man took three dribbles toward the right baseline and elevated for a 15-foot baseline skyhook with 3 seconds left.
“He got up high and I said, ‘There’s no doubt about it,’” said Bucks player Cornell Warner, watching from the bench. “He was up so high he was looking down at the basket . ... This should have been the seventh game. It has got to be one of the best ever.”
“The tenseness of the game brought out strong reactions,” McGlocklin said. “I yelled so loud one time I almost passed out.”
The game wasn’t over, though. Boston took one timeout and then another to try and set up a final play with 3 seconds left. JoJo White inbounded with the intention of getting the ball back for a quick shot that would have won the series, but Roberston sniffed it out and picked up White immediately upon his delivery of the inbound pass. White’s shot was a contested 30-footer that had no chance.
The series was tied, 3-3, and headed back to Milwaukee.
“I’d like a photo of that hook shot by Kareem,” Bucks coach Larry Costello said afterward. “It will be a great, great memory.”
Seventh heaven
“You cops are Boston fans!” someone shouted outside the Milwaukee Arena as fans flocked downtown to get their hands on tickets for the seventh game of the finals.
The swell of the crowd created a chaotic scene, with several would-be ticket buyers nearly trampled or suffocated. Ticket sales were suspended, then relocated, and law enforcement was brought in to sort out the mess. Many who waited through a rainy night to get a chance at tickets were turned away from a chance to see Milwaukee’s first experience in a winner-take-all playoff game.
The Bucks had been unstoppable before reaching the finals, winning eight of nine playoff games and sweeping the Bulls in the Western Conference Finals.
“This is the best I’ve ever seen the Bucks, even when they were world champions,” said Bulls guard Norm Van Lier said. “They just moved from Los Angeles (in the Western Conference semifinals) right into us. They ran right over us. They’re just too much.”
The Bucks had some history with the Knicks, with just a 1-16 all-time record at Madison Square Garden. But Boston dispatched of New York in five games to set up the final. Just as in 1971, Milwaukee didn’t have to worry about their nemesis from New York in the final.
But Boston had a talented press and could create turnovers, and Milwaukee was missing crucial guard Lucius Allen, sidelined March 15 with a knee injury that required surgery. Not only that, but a switch in philosophy paid off in the seventh game when the Celtics sagged on Abdul-Jabbar rather than trying to body him up one-on-one, and Kareem finished with only 26 points.
Ultimately, Boston was too much. Cowens scored 28 points with 14 rebounds in the final, and Milwaukee finished the seven-game series just 1-3 at home. The Celtics won, 102-87.
“It was a tough series all the way,” Robertson said. “I just hate to lose it at home – and to lose it, period.”
How the moment lives on
Robertson retired after the season, and the Bucks missed the playoffs the following year. Then, Abdul-Jabbar asked for a trade. Although the Bucks got a significant return in the deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, it hurt to see the Milwaukee Bucks dynasty crash down so abruptly. The Bucks remained competitive and didn’t endure consecutive season without playoff appearances until the early 1990s, but the opportunity to win a title was dramatically diminished. Kareem’s shot truly was the last highlight of an era.
Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson are still regarded as Milwaukee basketball legends. Abdul-Jabbar kept making skyhooks and became the league’s leading scorer and 19-time all-star between his time with Milwaukee and the Lakers. He won six rings, but only one with the Bucks.