A big name at a small price

Today's post will be of the one card variety, featuring my recent purchase of this 1970-71 Topps Lew Alcindor (soon to be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Thanks to the card being off center, it kept the graders away, which meant that I was able to get it for what I would almost call a steal of a price. This card has been a longtime set need, so it is very nice to check it off the list.

The 1970-71 season would end up being a pretty good one for both the Bucks as a team, and for  Kareem as an individual player.

With the acquisition of the great Oscar Robertson before the season started, the Bucks added another star to play alongside Kareem. Which with the already stellar supporting cast, was enough to take the NBA by storm. They would end up going 66-16, which at the time set a new record for wins in a season (since broken). During the season they would also set a record by winning 20 games in a row (this too has since been broken). Come Playoff time, they beat both the San Francisco Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first two rounds, losing only one game in each series. The Baltimore Bullets, who they would meet in the finals, ended up not being much of a match as Milwaukee would go on to sweep the series in four games, thus giving the franchise their first (and only) championship season.

As far as individual accomplishment go, Kareem averaged a league leading 31.7 points per game and was fourth in rebounding at 16.0 per game. Statistically speaking this would be his second best season, only surpassed by the next season's stats of 34.8 ppg and 16.6 rpg. Because of his dominating play during their title winning season, he would win not only the regular season MVP award, but also the Finals MVP.


In closing, here's a catchy little ditty that was brought to mind by the fact that I have always thought that the young Mr. Alcincor looks more than a little baked on the card above:

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.