The 1986-87 Milwaukee Bucks season was the Bucks' 19th season in the NBA.1986-87 Milwaukee Bucks For the first time since 1978-79, the Bucks did not win their division.
During the season, coach and general manager Don Nelson started to experience a rift in friendship with Bucks owner Herb Kohl due to personal disagreements with Kohl on how to run the team. During Game 4 of the 1987 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Bucks and the Boston Celtics, Nelson controversially announced to the local and national sports media that he did not expect to return to the Bucks after the season was over due to said rift with Kohl. Nelson would in fact resign after the Bucks lost the series to Boston in seven games, coming back from being down 3–1 in the series only to lose the seventh and deciding game in Boston Garden. After 11 seasons coaching and managing the Bucks, Nelson took the year off only to return in the 1988–89 season as coach and manager of the Golden State Warriors. The Bucks hired Nelson's assistant coach, Del Harris, to take over the team for the 1987–88 season.
Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 22 Scott Skiles PG Michigan State 2 45 Keith Smith SG Loyola Marymount 3 68 Baskerville Holmes PF Memphis 5 114 Bobby Deaton Southwestern 6 137 John Kimbrell Lipscomb 7 160 Jeff Strong Missouri
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
z - clinched division title y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot
Game log
|-style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 || October 31, 1986 || @ Detroit | W 120–104
| Pontiac Silverdome | 1–0
|-style="background:#bbffbb;" | 2 || November 1, 1986 || Boston | W 111–105
| MECCA Arena | 2–0
Playoffs
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 24 | Philadelphia | W 107–104 | Terry Cummings (21) | Jack Sikma (11) | Paul Pressey (10) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 26 | Philadelphia | L 122–125 (OT) | Ricky Pierce (24) | Randy Breuer (9) | Paul Pressey (9) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 29 | @ Philadelphia | W 121–120 | Terry Cummings (26) | Jack Sikma (12) | John Lucas (9) | Spectrum14,361 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | May 1 | @ Philadelphia | L 118–124 | Terry Cummings (29) | Jack Sikma (13) | John Lucas (10) | Spectrum15,464 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | May 3 | Philadelphia | W 102–89 | Jack Sikma (18) | Jack Sikma (21) | Paul Pressey (9) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 3–2
|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | May 5 | @ Boston | L 98–111 | Terry Cummings (28) | Terry Cummings (12) | Paul Pressey (8) | Boston Garden14,890 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | May 6 | @ Boston | L 124–126 | Terry Cummings (28) | Jack Sikma (14) | Paul Pressey (6) | Boston Garden14,890 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | May 8 | Boston | W 126–121 (OT) | John Lucas (30) | Terry Cummings (12) | Paul Pressey (7) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 1–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | May 10 | Boston | L 137–138 (2OT) | Terry Cummings (31) | Terry Cummings (11) | Paul Pressey (11) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 1–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | May 13 | @ Boston | W 129–124 | Sidney Moncrief (33) | Sikma, Cummings (9) | Paul Pressey (10) | Boston Garden14,890 | 2–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | May 15 | Boston | W 121–111 | Sidney Moncrief (34) | Terry Cummings (11) | Paul Pressey (11) | MECCA Arena11,052 | 3–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 7 | May 17 | @ Boston | L 113–119 | Paul Pressey (28) | Jack Sikma (10) | Paul Pressey (8) | Boston Garden14,890 | 3–4
Player statistics Source:
Season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Terry Cummings 82 77 33.8 51.1 0.0 66.2 8.5 2.8 1.6 1.020.8 Ricky Pierce 79 31 31.7 53.4 10.7 88.0 3.4 1.8 0.8 0.319.5 John Lucas 43 40 31.6 45.7 36.5 78.7 2.9 6.7 1.7 0.117.5 Paul Pressey 61 60 33.7 47.7 29.1 73.8 4.9 7.2 1.8 0.813.9 Jack Sikma 82 82 30.9 46.3 0.0 84.7 10.0 2.5 1.1 1.112.7 Sidney Moncrief 39 30 25.4 48.8 25.8 84.0 3.3 3.1 0.7 0.311.8 Craig Hodges 78 43 27.5 46.2 37.3 89.1 1.8 3.1 1.0 0.110.8 Randy Breuer 76 10 19.3 48.5 0.0 58.4 4.6 0.6 0.7 0.87.9 Jerry Reynolds 58 24 16.6 39.3 33.3 64.1 3.0 1.8 0.9 0.57.0 Junior Bridgeman 34 4 12.3 46.2 16.7 80.0 1.5 1.0 0.3 0.15.1 Don Collins 6 0 9.5 35.7 0.0 71.4 2.5 0.3 0.3 0.24.2 Scott Skiles 13 0 15.8 29.0 21.4 83.3 2.0 3.5 0.4 0.13.8 Mike Glenn 4 0 8.5 38.5 0.0 71.4 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.03.8 Keith Smith 42 4 11.0 38.0 33.3 75.0 0.8 1.0 0.6 0.13.3 Kenny Fields 4 0 5.5 75.0 0.0 20.0 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.03.3 Dudley Bradley 68 2 13.2 35.7 26.0 81.0 1.5 1.0 1.5 0.13.1 Hank McDowell 7 0 10.0 47.1 0.0 85.7 2.7 0.3 0.3 0.03.1 Cedric Henderson 2 0 3.0 66.7 0.0 100.0 2.5 0.0 0.0 0.03.0 Paul Mokeski 62 3 10.1 40.3 0.0 71.9 2.2 0.4 0.3 0.22.4 Jerome Henderson 6 0 6.0 30.8 0.0 100.0 1.2 0.0 0.2 0.22.0 Marvin Webster 15 0 6.8 52.6 100.0 75.0 1.7 0.2 0.2 0.51.8 Chris Engler 5 0 9.6 25.0 0.0 100.0 3.2 0.6 0.2 0.21.4
Playoffs Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Terry Cummings 12 10 36.9 48.8 0.0 68.7 7.9 2.3 1.0 1.122.3 Sidney Moncrief 12 10 35.5 47.3 28.6 81.1 4.5 3.0 1.1 0.519.4 Jack Sikma 12 12 35.5 48.7 0.0 98.0 10.8 1.9 1.3 0.816.2 Ricky Pierce 12 2 26.4 47.9 0.0 82.1 2.3 1.3 0.8 0.415.9 John Lucas 12 12 30.2 45.3 33.3 81.3 2.1 5.2 1.2 0.115.6 Paul Pressey 12 12 38.8 46.6 12.5 73.9 5.2 8.6 2.3 0.714.3 Craig Hodges 12 0 18.8 51.9 29.4 90.9 1.8 1.7 0.8 0.27.9 Randy Breuer 12 2 13.0 48.5 0.0 66.7 2.6 0.3 0.6 0.83.3 Paul Mokeski 12 0 8.9 36.4 0.0 80.0 2.4 0.2 0.3 0.22.3 Dudley Bradley 12 0 3.8 36.4 0.0 50.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.00.8 4 0 1.3 33.3 0.0 50.0 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.00.8 Jerome Henderson 1 0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00.0
Awards and records Ricky Pierce, NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award Paul Pressey, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
Transactions Trades July 1, 1986 To Milwaukee Bucks---- Jack Sikma To Seattle SuperSonics---- Alton Lister
References
See also 1986-87 NBA season