1983 Philadelphia 76ers Dominated NBA Playoffs
The 1977 NBA season was all about the addition of four former ABA teams and its principal star 26-year-old Julius Erving (aka Dr. J) of the New York Nets, who was the MVP for the ABA’s last three seasons. The cash-strapped Nets, however, could not both meet Erving’s salary demands and pay a territorial expansion fee to the New York Knicks. After the Knicks rejected the Nets offer to sell Dr. J’s contract to the Knicks for a reduction in their payment, the team sold Erving to the Sixers for $3 million.
Expectations were high the moment Julius Erving joined the 76ers (who had not won a playoff series since 1968) and Dr. J did not disappoint, leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals. Things looked promising as Erving opened the series with a dunk and led the Sixers to a 2-0 lead against the Portland Trailblazers.
The Sixers, however, were unable to claim the title as Bill Walton and the Trailblazers stormed back to win 4-2.
For the next five seasons, despite high hopes, a championship would continue to elude Philadelphia’s faithful fans.
- 1978: The Sixers led the East with a 55-27 record but lost 4-2 to the Washington Bullets in the conference finals. (The Bullets would go on to beat Seattle 4-3 in the Finals.)
- 1979: The Sixers were eliminated by the former ABA San Anonio Spurs in the conference semifinals (the only year they failed to at least reach the conference finals between 1977-1983).
- 1980: The Sixers beat a resurgent Celtics team led by Rookie of the Year Larry Bird 4-1 in the conference finals, only to lose 4-2 to another great rookie Magic Johnson and his Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals.
- 1981: The Sixers tied the Celtics with a league best 62-20 record, but blew a 3-1 series lead over Boston in the conference finals.
- 1982: The Sixers once again jumped to a 3-1 lead over the Celtics in the conference finals, but redeemed themselves with a decisive Game 7 win at Boston Garden. Their reward, a rematch with the Lakers with Los Angeles winning 4-2 again.
1983: Fo, Fo, Fo
In 1983, the Sixers added the missing ingredient by trading for 27-year-old 6-10 center Moses Malone, a former ABA star and the 1982 NBA MVP. This gave the Sixers a front court of Malone (24.5 ppg/15.3 rpg), Bobby Jones (the “Secretary of Defense”), and Erving (21.4 ppg), with Andrew Toney (19.7 ppg) and Maurice Cheeks (12.5 ppg) in the backcourt. Malone led the team to a league-best 65-17 record (second-best in franchise history and seventh-best in NBA history at that time) while also claiming the MVP award for the second year in a row.
Malone averaged 31.3 points in 15.5 rebounds as the Sixers swept the Bernard King-led New York Knicks in a hard fought series in which no game was won by double-digits.
They then faced a great Milwaukee Bucks team that had just swept the Boston Celtics. The Bucks won Game 4 to avoid a sweep, but the Sixers rebounded in Game 5 (led by Andrew Toney’s 30 points) to win 115-103. It was their first double-digit win of the playoffs.
In the finals, Malone out-dueled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and averaged 25.8 points and 18 rebounds as the Sixers swept the Lakers to avenge their loss the year before.
From NBA.com
Heading into the Finals, Malone was asked for his prediction and responded with the classic “Fo’, fo’ fo’.” Philadelphia came close to living up to Malone’s prediction of an unblemished playoff record, sweeping New York, beating Milwaukee 4-1 and then sweeping a Los Angeles Lakers team weakened by injuries to Norm Nixon and Bob McAdoo in the NBA Finals. Philadelphia’s 12-1 playoff record is the best in NBA history, and an amended version of Malone’s prediction was engraved on the players’ championship rings: “Fo’, five, fo’.”
The Sixers were coached by Billy Cunningham, who as a second-year player, was part of the 1967 Sixers that featured fellow Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Chet Walker that won franchise’s only other title in Philadelphia.
Like the 1967 Sixers, four of the Sixers starters (Cheeks, Erving, Jones and Malone) ended up in the Hall of Fame.
| G | Opponent | Tm | Opp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Knicks | W | 112 | 102 | |
| 2 | New York Knicks | W | 98 | 91 | |
| 3 | @ | New York Knicks | W | 107 | 105 |
| 4 | @ | New York Knicks | W | 105 | 102 |
| G | Opponent | Tm | Opp | ||
| 5 | Milwaukee Bucks | W | 111 | 109 | |
| 6 | Milwaukee Bucks | W | 87 | 81 | |
| 7 | @ | Milwaukee Bucks | W | 104 | 96 |
| 8 | @ | Milwaukee Bucks | L | 94 | 100 |
| 9 | Milwaukee Bucks | W | 115 | 103 | |
| G | Opponent | Tm | Opp | ||
| 10 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | 113 | 107 | |
| 11 | Los Angeles Lakers | W | 103 | 93 | |
| 12 | @ | Los Angeles Lakers | W | 111 | 94 |
| 13 | @ | Los Angeles Lakers | W | 115 | 108 |
The team is ranked among the top 10 all-time NBA teams by both NBA.com, Hoop Doctors and Bleacher Report. They won that title 32 years ago today.
Epilogue
The next year, the defending champs were dethroned in the first round 3-2 by Dr. J’s former team – the New Jersey Nets. In 1985, however, with rookie Charles Barkley, the Sixers returned to the conference finals but were dismissed by the defending champion Celtics 4-1. Cunningham retired at the end of the season.
In 1986, the Sixers were eliminated in the conference semifinals by the Milwaukee Bucks 4-3. Moses Malone was traded to Washington Bullets after the season and Bobby Jones retired.
In 1987, the Bucks eliminated the Sixers in the first round (3-2) in what would be Dr. J’s last game.
The next season, the Sixers would miss the playoffs for the first time since 1975.
The 2001 Los Angeles Lakers would match the Sixers’ playoff dominance with their 15-1 run, the culmination of which was a 4-1 series victory over Philadelphia in their only return to the NBA Finals since 1983.
| Player | Age | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moses Malone | 27 | 15.3 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 24.5 |
| Julius Erving | 32 | 6.8 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 21.4 |
| Maurice Cheeks | 26 | 2.6 | 6.9 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 12.5 |
| Andrew Toney | 25 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 19.7 |
| Bobby Jones | 31 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 9.0 |
| Clint Richardson | 26 | 3.2 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 7.6 |
| Clemon Johnson | 26 | 6.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 6.8 |
| Marc Iavaroni | 26 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 5.1 |
| Reggie Johnson | 25 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 5.5 |
| Franklin Edwards | 23 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 6.7 |
| Russ Schoene | 22 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 5.1 |
| Earl Cureton | 25 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 3.4 |
| Mark McNamara | 23 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.2 |
| J.J. Anderson | 22 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Player | Age | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moses Malone | 27 | 15.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 26.0 |
| Julius Erving | 32 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 18.4 |
| Maurice Cheeks | 26 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 16.3 |
| Andrew Toney | 25 | 2.3 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 18.8 |
| Bobby Jones | 31 | 4.8 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 8.6 |
| Clint Richardson | 26 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 6.8 |
| Marc Iavaroni | 26 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 5.2 |
| Clemon Johnson | 26 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 4.2 |
| Franklin Edwards | 23 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| Reggie Johnson | 25 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| Earl Cureton | 25 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Mark McNamara | 23 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
Trophy Lives 
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