1983 NBA Finals
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| Dates | May 22 - May 31 | |||||||||
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| MVP | Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1995) Julius Erving (1993) Magic Johnson (2002) Moses Malone (2001) Bob McAdoo (2000) James Worthy (2003; did not play) Coaches: Billy Cunningham (1986, player) Pat Riley (2008) Broadcasters: Chick Hearn | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | 76ers defeat Bucks, 4-1 | |||||||||
| Western finals | Lakers defeat Spurs, 4-2 | |||||||||
The 1983 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1982-83 NBA season.
Overview
The final piece of the Philadelphia 76ers' championship puzzle was completed before the 1982-83 season when they acquired center Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets. They went on to capture their historic second NBA championship as they won 65 games, and stormed through the playoffs, first sweeping the New York Knicks, and then beating the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. They finally finished it off with a four game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, who had defeated them the season before.
Said head coach Billy Cunningham, "The difference from last year was Moses." Malone was named MVP of the 1983 Finals, as well as league MVP for the third time in his career. The 76ers completed one of the most dominating playoff runs in league history with a 12-1 mark after league and NBA Finals MVP Moses promised "Fo', fo', fo" (as in "four, four, four" - four wins to sweep round 1, four wins to sweep round 2, etc.), but it actually wound up as "Fo', fi', fo." (four, five, four). The 76ers were also led by Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones.
Notable occurances
The 1983 NBA Finals was the last to end before June 1.
This championship is especially noted because it is the last major sports championship for the city of Philadelphia. No other city with all four professional sports teams has a championship drought as long as of 2008. (25 Years)
"That Championship Feeling"
Following the 1983 NBA Finals, a video documentary called "That Championship Feeling" recaps the NBA Playoff action that year. Dick Stockton, who called the Finals for CBS with Bill Russell, narrated the video, and Irene Cara's 1983 hit single "What A Feeling" is the official theme song for the video documentary. For the first time, NBA Entertainment used videotape instead of film for all the on-court and off-court footage.
Team rosters
See also
External links
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