1983 NBA Finals

The 1983 NBA Finals, also known as Showdown '83, was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1982–83 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. It was the last NBA Championship Series completed before June 1. The Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 0. 76ers center Moses Malone was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Background

Series summary

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 win round 1, four wins to win 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.

With 59 seconds to go in Game 4, it was Erving who made a three-point play to hold the lead for good, crushing the Lakers in a four-game sweep and ending the last NBA Finals to end before June.

Player statistics

Philadelphia 76ers

Los Angeles Lakers

^[1]

Television coverage

The 1983 NBA Finals was being broadcast by CBS. Dick Stockton and Bill Russell were the commentators and Brent Musburger was the host, with Kevin Loughery as a pre-game, halftime and post-game analyst. It also introduced a new theme music (composed by Allyson Bellink) for the CBS Sports coverage of the NBA, used an introduction of the NBA arenas (similar to the Boston Garden) until the 1989 Playoffs and later revived the second theme beginning in the 1989 Finals.^[2]

"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 "Flashdance... 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. "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters was also used as the opening music for the documentary, while Grover Washington, Jr.'s "Let It Flow" was used during the Julius Erving segment and as the closing music.

Aftermath

The Sixers would finish the 1983–84 season with 52 wins; however, they fell to the young New Jersey Nets in five games of the first round, in which the road team won every game. The Sixers would not make it back to the finals again until 2001, also against the Lakers, but this time they lost in five games to the then-defending NBA champions.

The Lakers would return to the Finals again in 1984, but were defeated for the second straight year, this time by their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics in seven games. They would, however, defeat the Celtics in 1985 in six games, and win two more titles in 1987 and 1988.

The 1983 Finals was the last to end within the month of May. All Finals series thereafter would end within the month of June.

This was the only championship not to be won by either the Celtics or Lakers between 1980 and 1988 and the last championship series not to feature either team until 1990.

This also was the only NBA Finals to feature 5 NBA Most Valuable Players total for the two teams (Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bob McAdoo, Moses Malone and Julius Erving).

Like the 1966–67 team, the 1982–83 76ers were named as one of the top 10 teams in NBA history during the league's 50th anniversary season of 1996–97. Billy Cunningham played on the former and coached on the latter.

The 76ers championship was the last for the city of Philadelphia until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.^[3] At the time, no other city with all four professional sports teams had a championship drought last as long as that from 1983 to 2008 (25 Years).^[4] Some suggested that this was the Curse of Billy Penn. When the Flyers played for the 2010 Stanley Cup, The Ottawa Citizen reported that the main reason for that lengthy championship drought was because the only years the city's teams played for championships during that time were years presidents were inaugurated.^[5] The city's teams had lost championships during such years, beginning with the 76ers themselves in 1977.^[5] The exceptions were the Phillies in 1983 and the Flyers in 1987.^[5]

The song "Fo Fi Fo" by Pieces of a Dream was released a few months after the series ended and hit #13 on the R&B charts.

Team rosters

Philadelphia 76ers

1983 Philadelphia 76ers Finals roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. DOB From G 7001100000000000000♠10 Cheeks, Maurice 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1956–09–08 West Texas A&M F 7001250000000000000♠25 Cureton, Earl 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1957–09–03 Detroit G 7001140000000000000♠14 Edwards, Franklin 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1959–02–02 Cleveland State F 7000600000000000000♠6 Erving, Julius 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1950–02–22 UMass F 7000800000000000000♠8 Iavaroni, Marc 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1956–09–15 Virginia C 7001450000000000000♠45 Johnson, Clemon 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1956–09–12 Florida A&M F 7001330000000000000♠33 Johnson, Reggie 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1957–06–25 Tennessee F 7001240000000000000♠24 Jones, Bobby 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1951–12–18 North Carolina C 7000200000000000000♠2 Malone, Moses 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1955–03–23 Petersburg (HS) C 7001310000000000000♠31 McNamara, Mark 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1959–06–08 California G 7000400000000000000♠4 Richardson, Clint 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1956–08–07 Seattle G 7001220000000000000♠22 Toney, Andrew 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 178 lb (81 kg) 1957–11–23 Louisiana	Head coach Billy Cunningham (North Carolina) Assistant coach(es) Matt Goukas (Saint Joseph's) Jack McMahon (St. John's) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Los Angeles Lakers

1983 Los Angeles Lakers Finals roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. DOB From C 7001330000000000000♠33 Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem 7000218440000000000♠7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1947–04–16 UCLA G 7001210000000000000♠21 Cooper, Michael 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1956–04–15 New Mexico G 7001340000000000000♠34 Johnson, Clay 7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1956–07–18 Missouri G 7001320000000000000♠32 Johnson, Magic 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1959–08–14 Michigan State F 7001130000000000000♠13 Jones, Dwight 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1952–02–27 Houston G 7001150000000000000♠15 Jordan, Eddie 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1955–01–29 Rutgers F 7001540000000000000♠54 Landsberger, Mark 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1955–05–21 Minnesota C 7001110000000000000♠11 McAdoo, Bob 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1951–09–25 North Carolina F 7001400000000000000♠40 McGee, Mike 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1959–07–29 Michigan F 7001500000000000000♠50 Mix, Steve 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1947–12–30 Toledo G 7001100000000000000♠10 Nixon, Norm 7000187960000000000♠6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1955–10–11 Duquesne F 7001310000000000000♠31 Rambis, Kurt 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 213 lb (97 kg) 1958–02–25 Santa Clara F 7001520000000000000♠52 Wilkes, Jamaal 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1953–05–02 UCLA F 7001420000000000000♠42 Worthy, James 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1961–02–27 North Carolina	Head coach Pat Riley (Kentucky) Assistant coach(es) Bill Bertka (Kent State) Dave Wohl (Pennsylvania) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

See also

• 1983 NBA Playoffs

References

External links

• NBA History