National Basketball Association

What life was like the last time the Bucks and Suns were in the NBA Finals

Updated Jul. 6, 2021 3:38 p.m. ET

For both of the teams in the NBA Finals, making it to the ultimate destination has been a long time coming.

The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks have waited a combined 75 years to play in the NBA Finals.

Milwaukee's 47-year wait outpaces Phoenix's 28 years by a wide margin, but it's safe to say that a considerable number of fans from each franchise have waited a lifetime ⁠— literally ⁠— to see their team in the Finals.

Heck, Devin Booker was more than three years from being born when his Suns were last in the Finals. And Giannis Antetokounmpo? Try more than 20 years between his birth and the Bucks' last appearance in the Finals.

What's more, there's only one championship between the two teams, with Milwaukee having won a title in 1971.

All told, it has been an extensive wait, but one of these two fan bases will finally be rewarded with a highly anticipated championship.

But what was life like when these two teams were previously in the Finals?

Here's a look at which teams the Bucks and Suns squared off against, what happened and what the world looked like in 1974 and 1993.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Starters in the 1973-74 season: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Dandridge, Oscar Robertson, Mickey Davis, Cornell Warner

Outcome: The Bucks and Boston Celtics battled all the way to a Game 7, alternating wins and losses after the Celtics took Game 1. Abdul-Jabbar put up a whopping 32.6 points, 12.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game in the series. However, the mighty Celtics had two players ⁠— John Havlicek and Dave Cowens ⁠— average more than 22 points apiece throughout the Finals, which lifted them past Milwaukee. In Game 7, Cowens dominated with 28 points and 14 rebounds, both of which were game highs. After the Bucks missed the playoffs the following season, Abdul-Jabbar requested a trade and wound up with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he continued to flourish.

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PHOENIX SUNS

Starters in the 1992-93 season: Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Mark West, Richard Dumas

Outcome: The Suns finally made it over the hump in the Western Conference in the 1992-93 season, but they ran into a little buzzsaw known as Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the Finals. Despite averages of 27.3 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists from Barkley, Phoenix lost in six games. That's because Jordan averaged a blistering 41.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. That's not a typo: 41 points for MJ. Plus, that famous dagger from John Paxson toward the end of Game 6 was the nail in the coffin for Phoenix's most recent crack at a championship.

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