#8
The 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers
Regular season: 65-17 (79.3)
Playoffs: 12-1 (92.3)
Total: 77-18 (81.1)
Award Winners;
Maurice Cheeks: 1st Team All-Defense, All Star
Julius Erving: 1st Team All-NBA, All Star, All Star MVP
Moses Malone: League MVP, Finals MVP, 1st Team All-NBA, 1st Team All-Defense, All Star
Bobby Jones: Sixth Man of the Year, 1st Team All-Defense
Andrew Toney: All Star
Billy Cunningham: All Star head coach
The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA, having joined the league in 1949 as the Syracuse Nationals. In 1962, the Philadelphia Warriors bailed for the west coast and became the San Francisco Warriors, and eventually, the Golden State Warriors. In 1962-63, there was no NBA franchise in Philadelphia. The Nationals saw their opportunity and moved down to Philly in ‘63-64.
To me, the 76ers kind of seem like under achievers. They play in one of the biggest markets in the league, and one that loves basketball, but they’ve only won two championships since leaving Syracuse (they won one there in 1955), most recently in 1983, and haven’t made the Finals since 2001. At the same time, this is a team that when it wins, it wins BIG. In both 1967 and 1983, the Sixers totally demolished the league. The 1967 team that featured Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Chet Walker and Hal Greer was even more dominant, but you’ll hear more about them in a later entry.
The 76ers missed the playoffs four straight years from 1972 to ‘75. In 75-76, George McGinnis joined the team, followed by Julius Erving the next year. Dr. J had already been a superstar in the ABA with the New York Nets, and the Sixers made the Finals with him in 1977. After taking a 2-0 lead, the Sixers lost four straight to Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers. Philly continued to add talent though. Maurice Cheeks was drafted in 1978 and George McGinnis was traded to the Denver Nuggets for Bobby Jones shortly after. In 1980, they lost the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and rookie point guard Magic Johnson, who closed them out in game six with one of the all time great Finals performances. That Summer, the Sixers drafted Andrew Toney 8th overall. In 1981, they blew a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals to the rival Boston Celtics, who went on to win the championship. The Sixers would’ve had a great chance to win it all that year had they been able to close out Boston, as the Western Conference champs were the 40-42 Houston Rockets. In 1982, they lost another Finals to the Lakers after beating Boston in the Eastern Finals in another seven game series.
In 1982, they finally got their missing ingredient when they traded big man Caldwell Jones and a draft pick to the Houston Rockets for 6’10 center Moses Malone, considered one of the best rebounders of all time. The addition of the 27 year old Malone to an excellent but not quite championship level team was too much for the league. Malone averaged 24.5 points, 15.3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1.1 steals on 50.1% shooting in ‘82-83. When asked for his prediction on how the season would go, he responded simply, “Fo, fo, fo.” In other words, he guaranteed three straight four game sweeps when they reached the playoffs, and he wasn’t far off. Moses was a man of few words.
Small forward Julius Erving was 32 and still a superstar that year, putting up 21.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.6 steals on 51.8% shooting. 25 year old two guard Andrew Toney, who’s career was later cut short by injuries, was in all star form, with averages of 19.7 points, 4.5 assists and 1 steal on 50.1% shooting. 26 year old point guard Maurice “Mo” Cheeks averaged 12.5 points on 54.2% shooting with 6.9 assists and 2.3 steals. The starting five was rounded out by Marc Iavaroni, and sixth man Bobby Jones, a 31 year old power forward, provided 9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals in 23.6 minutes a game. The Sixers went 65-17 that season, including a 41 game stretch from December 21st to March 1st when they went an unbelievable 37-4. Their longest winning streak lasted 16 games through December and January.
The team met the 44 win New York Knicks led by Bernard King in the first round and swept them in four games. None of them were huge blowouts though, and Philly won game three in New York by just two points. Moses had a monster game one though, with 38 points on 23 shots, 17 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Game two was one of Mo Cheeks’ best of the playoffs, with 26 points on 15 shots, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block.
Their next opponent was tougher, the 51 win Milwaukee Bucks, led by Sidney Moncrief and Marques Johnson. Game one was a close call, with Johnson putting up 30 points, 5 assists and 2 steals, but the Sixers squeaked by, 111-109. Philly beat them in five, with the Bucks only taking game four in Milwaukee 100-94. Andrew Toney had a great game in the clincher, scoring 30 points on 10 of 14 shooting to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Moses Malone wreaked havoc as usual, with 28 points, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals.
In the Finals, the 76ers met who else but the 58-24 Los Angeles Lakers for their third Finals match-up in four seasons. They were unfazed though, and completed another sweep. Dr. J nearly had a triple double in game one, with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 blocks and a steal. The biggest win of the series was a 111-94 blowout in game three in LA in which Moses scored 29 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to go with 6 assists and 3 steals. Malone won Finals MVP, averaging 25.8 points, 18 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks on 50.7% shooting in the series.
Sadly for Philly fans, the Sixers again never reached those heights, and before long Dr. J and Andrew Toney began to decline, and by the late ‘80s both players were retired. Charles Barkley came along in 1984, but Moses Malone was traded to Washington in 1986. One of the players they received for Malone, two-time All Star Jeff Ruland, played only five games for Philly before retiring due to foot problems. Now that’s just bad luck. After Barkley left in the early ‘90s, it wasn’t until Allen Iverson showed up that the team regained relevance. I hate to say it as a Celtics fan, but things look pretty bright right now for Philly, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they made it back to the Finals in the next few years.
Mack's Basketball Stuff 