Stop me if you have heard this before: The losing team of the NBA finals adds a former MVP. No, I am not talking about the 2016-17 Warriors. I’m talking about the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers. One of the greatest teams in the history of the NBA, who unfortunately do not get the recognition they deserve.
Today, NBA superteams are common, but the 1982-83 76ers were the original and most complete NBA superteam of the time. They had one of the best records in league history and a roster stacked with future Hall of Famers. But to build this superteam, the 76ers and their fans had to suffer for years.
Most fans know of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry and their dual dynasty of the 80s. Most also know of the Detroit Pistons that ended both of those dynasties in the late 80s. Had a few bounces gone a different way, people may remember the 76ers more vividly as one of the dynasties from that era.
From the 1976-77 season to the 1982-83 season they made it to at least the Eastern Conference semifinals every year.
| Year | Playoff Finish | Last Opponent |
| 1976-77 | NBA Finals (L) | Trail Blazers |
| 1977-78 | Eastern Finals (L) | Washington Bullets |
| 1978-79 | Eastern Semifinals (L) | Spurs |
| 1979-80 | NBA Finals (L) | Lakers |
| 1980-81 | Eastern Finals (L) | Celtics |
| 1981-82 | NBA Finals (L) | Lakers |
| 1982-83 | NBA Champions | Lakers |
Years of Agonizing Pain
I’ll start with their loss to the Lakers in the 1980 Finals. For the Lakers, this was the start of their 80s dynasty, their first of five NBA Finals in the decade.
Heading into Game 5 the series was tied 2-2. During Game 5, Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the league’s MVP that year, sprained his ankle. The Lakers were still able to win the game and went on to win Game 6 in Philadelphia behind arguably the greatest game of Magic Johnson’s career, even though he was a rookie at the time.
At the time, Julius Erving was the star for the 76ers and one of the biggest stars in the game, having earned All-NBA First Team Honors that year. The 1980 Finals is also notorious for the 76ers because of the “baseline move” Erving performed in Game 4, where he went for a lay-up and the ball was behind the backboard while he was in mid-air.
Yeah, this NBA superteam was the real deal.
The next season (1980-81) the 76ers would go on to lose to the Larry Bird led Celtics in seven games of the Eastern Conference Finals. During the regular season, the 76ers and Celtics tied with the best record in the Eastern Conference at 62-20. However, they lost the tiebreaker with the Celtics who would now have home-court advantage in the playoffs.
After a hard-fought seven-game semifinals series with the Milwaukee Bucks, the 76ers and Celtics met for what most anticipated to be a great series. Going into Game 5 the 76ers were leading the series 3-1.
They would then go on to lose Game 5 by two points, Game 6 by two points, and Game 7 by a heartbreaking one point. Five points in three games separated them from reaching the Finals for another year.
Championship Success For This NBA Superteam (Finally!)
Prior to the start of the 1982-83 season, the 76ers acquired Moses Malone via a trade with the Houston Rockets. By this point, Malone had already won two MVP awards and was a perennial all-star. The previous year Malone averaged 31 points and 14 rebounds a game. He was MVP of the league and in his prime at 27-years-old. The 76ers were going all in for the 1982-83 season.
Even without Malone, they featured a roster that could contend for the title. They had their own “death lineup” that could rival the 2019 Warriors. Malone, Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, and Andrew Toney. Erving, one of the greatest small forwards of all time, was also a perennial all-star before this season and had one MVP award himself.
Cheeks ran the point and would have his first all-star season this year. Toney was another 76ers who would earn his first all-star nod that year. And Jones, sixth man of the year that season, and an 8x All-NBA Defensive First Team member was a selfless player that always gave you his all.
| Philadelphia 76ers 1982-83 Key Players and Accolades | ||||
| Maurice Cheeks | Andrew Toney | Julius Erving | Bobby Jones | Moses Malone |
| 12.5 PTS 6.9 AST | 19.7 PTS 4.5 AST | 21.4 PTS 6.8 REB | 9.0 PTS 4.6 REB | 24.5 PTS 15.3 REB |
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The team went 65-17 during the regular season. At the time it was the fifth-greatest regular-season win total in NBA history.
Heading into the start of the playoffs, reporters asked Malone how he thought the playoffs would go. He famously responded, “fo’, fo’, fo’.”
This was in reference to the number of games the team would have to play in each series. He anticipated sweeping all three of the series they would play. A bold claim, but one the 76ers were almost able to back up.
In the Eastern Semifinals, the 76ers swept the Knicks in four games, beat the Bucks in five in the Eastern Finals, and swept the Lakers in the Finals.
After years of trying to make it to the top, they had finally done it. I can only imagine the feeling the fans of the 76ers had after years and years of watching them lose. This 76ers team had it all. Unfortunately, basketball is always changing and it’s hard to compare one era to another.
When asked about the Warriors 2017 team that went 16-1 in the playoffs and won an NBA championship, Erving said “But when you have a team with the makeup of our team that year? We could play slow, we could play fast… We would have figured out how to play against this team and how to beat this team.”