A Look Back At The Incredible 1983 Sixers

Josh Wilson

Mar 1, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A banner with the jersey number of Philadelphia 76ers former guard Allen Iverson is raised to the rafters during a ceremony at halftime of game between the 76ers and Washington Wizards at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia 76ers are currently in a rebuilding stage. They are looking to build a roster that can get into the playoffs and compete in the next few years. Roster moves, draft rights, and young players are all parts of the equations as Sam Hinkie works hard to make things work in the future.

More from The Sixer Sense

This is just one way they attacked the Los Angeles Lakers. Kareem Abdul Jabaar had destroyed them in the Finals previously, and Dawkins and Jones were unable to shut him down. Malone was supposed to have the ability to do that.

Still, in today’s world, I would imagine fans throwing a fit over trading their starting front court for just one player. Still, it all worked out in the end, as Malone successfully kept him under 30 points in every single game of the Finals.

While this doesn’t seem great, before the Finals, he was averaging 28.4 points per game. Against the Sixers in the Finals that year, he averaged 23.5 points per game. This, still was not an improvement as far as points compared to the previous year, when he averaged 18 in the Finals against Philadelphia. If we go back further, however, to when the two teams matched up in 1980, they let Kareem put up 27.4 points per game, including 40 points in the last game of the series.

The underdog of the offseason moves to make the Sixers a powerhouse in the playoffs was Andrew Toney. Although Toney was on the team before, he had an increased role in this season, and did well with it, averaging 16.5 points per game during the regular season, a huge jump up from the year prior. He averaged 22 points per game throughout the Finals series.

Next: Your Move...

Lakers Build A Roster, Too

Now, the Sixers were doing everything they could to be matched up well with the Lakers, but that was a difficult task to do when the Lakers had the first overall pick in the draft, despite winning a championship the year prior (the first team to ever be this lucky).

ALSO ON SIXER SENSE: The 10 Greatest Sixers Of All Time

Using this pick, they drafted James Worthy. Worthy is in the Hall of Fame, and is a great historic player. What most people don’t remember about this Sixers team is that this first round pick was not at all present for the playoffs, due to an injury. Would the outcome have been drastically different if he was on the floor?

With the momentum he had before breaking his leg, I think he would have been fantastic in the Finals, and tough to shut down. He was already averaging double digit points per game in the regular season. Having to defend Kareem as well as Worthy would have been a terribly tough task.

I’m not confident in my hypothetical assumptions enough to say that the Lakers would have won, but I don’t think the Sixers would have swept the Lakers with a healthy Worthy.

Next: The Regular Season

Regular Season

To this day, this Sixers regular season stands as one of the best ones to ever happen. Their 79.3% win percentage and just 17 losses set them up to easily have the best record in the Eastern Conference, as well as the league. The next best Eastern Conference record in the league had over 30 losses (Milwaukee Bucks).

Billy Cunningham — a former Sixer — was the head coach of the team this year.

This team seemed to be unbeatable, and that would hold true for a lot of the year. Get this — they only lost twice in a row on two different instances. At one point, they won 14 games in a row. Everyone wanted to get a look at this team, as their attendance at The Spectrum was second best in the league.

The roster that featured Maruice Cheeks, Julius Erving, and finally Malone on top of these classic Sixers was an incredible one, and arguably one of the best rosters of all time.

Malone, Erving, Cheeks, and Andrew Toney all averaged double digit points. Additionally Malone was all over the boards with over 15 rebounds per game. Their three point shooting was not good, as the most accurate shooter had a percentage of 28%.

There’s not much to say about their regular season besides the fact that it was pure domination from the Sixers. Not many teams in the NBA’s history will come close to the level of domination that the Sixers had in the early 80s.

Next: Fo, Fo, Fo

The Playoffs

Prior to the playoffs, Moses Malone made a claim to the media, saying, “Fo… fo… fo,” when asked about how he thought the Sixers postseason would turn out. This was a reference to four game sweeps in all three series of the playoffs.

Sixer Sense writers George Kondoleon and Josh Wilson with the 1982-83 Sixers championship trophy.

Malone was nearly correct in his projection, as the Sixers went 12-1 in the playoffs that season. They swept the first series, but lost one game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the second series.

While the first two series were important, it was all just a precedent to the third series, the NBA Finals.

As expected, the Sixers were slated to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. The Lakers not having James Worthy was a huge push for the Sixers, and they were able to sweep them, just like Moses predicted. The Sixers dominated this series just like they did the rest of the year, winning on average by ten points per game.

This was a team built specifically to match up against the Lakers, and they were able to easily do just that. No team in the NBA could stop the Sixers this season.

This speaks a ton to what’s going on in South Philly now. Hinkie is working on a rebuild of the team. While his rebuild is not to go after any specific team like the 1983 Sixers team, it’s a rebuild nonetheless. It’s worked for the Sixers in the past, maybe it could work again.

Next: 2016 Roster When Hinkie Hits Paydirt

More from The Sixer Sense

Josh Wilson

Josh is currently the Managing Editor of FanSided.com. He has worked with FanSided in some capacity for a total of eight years, starting as a contributor for Swarm and Sting, Toro Times, and HoopsHabit in 2015. He served as a site expert for The Sixer Sense during 'The Process' years while starting his educational track at Temple University as a journalism student. He later transferred to the State University of New York at Cortland where he completed his B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in journalism. For FanSided, Josh worked as Operations Assistant before taking on a role as Editorial Director of the NBA Division, a role he held for three years. Along the way he also helped start and lead the FanSided fellowship program which created a path for several young journalists to start their careers in sports media. Nothing is more important to Josh than Yankee wins and his family.