1990–91 Milwaukee Bucks season

The 1990–91 Milwaukee Bucks season was the 23rd season for the Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association.^[1] During the off-season, the Bucks acquired Frank Brickowski from the San Antonio Spurs, and acquired Danny Schayes from the Denver Nuggets.^[2][3][4] However, Larry Krystkowiak would miss the entire regular season due to a knee injury.^[5][6]

With the addition of Brickowski and Schayes, the Bucks posted an eight-game winning streak between December and January, which led to a 25–8 start to the regular season. However, the team lost ten of their next twelve games, which included a six-game losing streak in January, and later on held a 30–19 record at the All-Star break.^[7] At mid-season, the Bucks traded scoring leader, and sixth man Ricky Pierce to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for All-Star guard Dale Ellis.^[8][9][10] In April, the team signed free agent and former All-Star forward Adrian Dantley, as Ellis suffered a season-ending lower back injury.^[11][12][13] The Bucks finished in third place in the Central Division with a 48–34 record, and earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.^[14] The team also won their first 18 home games of the regular season, posted a 33–8 home record at the Bradley Center, and qualified for the NBA playoffs for the twelfth consecutive year.^[1]

Ellis played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 19.3 points per game in 21 games after the trade, while Jay Humphries averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, and Alvin Robertson provided the team with 13.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and led the league with 3.0 steals per game, and was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Brickowski provided with 12.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while Fred Roberts contributed 10.8 points per game, Schayes averaged 10.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, and Jack Sikma contributed 10.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Off the bench, Jeff Grayer contributed 6.4 points per game, and Brad Lohaus averaged 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.^[15]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and before the mid-season trade, Pierce and Robertson were both selected for the 1991 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Eastern Conference All-Star team; it was Pierce's first and only All-Star appearance, and the fourth and final All-Star appearance for Robertson.^[16][17][18] Meanwhile, Sikma was selected to participate in the NBA Three-Point Shootout, but withdrew and was replaced with Terry Porter of the Portland Trail Blazers.^[19] Robertson also finished in third place in Defensive Player of the Year voting,^[20][21] while head coach Del Harris finished tied in fifth place in Coach of the Year voting.^[22][21]

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1991 NBA playoffs, the Bucks faced off against the 5th–seeded Philadelphia 76ers, a team that featured All-Star forward Charles Barkley, All-Star guard Hersey Hawkins, and Armen Gilliam. After missing the entire regular season due to his knee injury, Krystkowiak returned to play in the team's first-round series against the 76ers; however, without Ellis, the Bucks lost the first two games to the 76ers at home at the Bradley Center, before losing Game 3 on the road, 121–100 at The Spectrum, thus losing the series in a three-game sweep.^[23][24][25] This would also be the Bucks' final NBA playoff appearance until the 1998–99 season, as what would follow was a seven-year playoff drought.

The Bucks finished eighth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 673,687 at the Bradley Center during the regular season.^[15][26] Following the season, Sikma retired.