Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking the championship seasons

[caption id="attachment_107976" align="aligncenter" width="590"] (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)[/caption]rn The Philadelphia 76ers franchise has won three championships. Let's take a look at all of them. rnAll three of the Philadelphia 76ers ' championship seasons were superb in their own ways.rnrnThe 1955 season was perhaps one of the most eventful of all-time that a surprisingly small number of people know about. From a nail-bitter Game 7 to gambling by players, the NBA Finals had it all.rnrnThe 1967 Sixers recorded the best record in league history at the time, going 68-13. They are still, arguably, the best basketball team in Philadelphia history.rnrnIn 1983, the Sixers swept the Los Angeles Lakers, who had five Hall of Famers (though James Worthy did not play) and were led by Hall of Fame Coach Pat Riley . The "Chairman of the Boards" Moses Malone won league MVP and Finals MVP.rnrn[nextslide teaser="No.%203" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_102652" align="alignnone" width="1600"] (Photo by The Stevenson Collection/NBAE via Getty Images)[/caption]rn 3. 1955 championship rnThe 1955 NBA season saw the Syracuse Nationals tie for the league's best record in the regular season at 43-29. The Lakers were still in Minneapolis, the Hawks in Milwaukee, and the Warriors still in Philadelphia. This was the first season the shot clock was put into action. The Baltimore Bullets also folded 14 games into the season.rnrnThe Nationals were led by Dolph Schayes and coached by Al Cervi .rnrnOther than the Baltimore Bullets folding and the scheduling having to be redrawn, the season ran without a hitch.rnrnWhen the postseason came, the Nationals found themselves with home-court advantage throughout the entire postseason. Being the top seed in the East the Nationals got a bye into the Conference Finals. There they easily handled Bob Cousey, Red Auerbach, and the rest of the Boston Celtics. This set up a meeting with the Fort Wayne Pistons in the NBA Finals.rnrn[story_link_team_logo league="2" division="22" team="93" select_cta="more" description="15%20greatest%20playoff%20moments%20in%20franchise%20history" url="https://thesixersense.com/2019/04/23/philadelphia-76ers-15-greatest-nba-playoff-moments/" /]rnrnFort Wayne's arena thought there was no way they could make the NBA Finals so they booked the arena for other events. This meant all of Fort Wayne's "home" games were played in Indianapolis.rnrnThat proved to not matter too much as the home team won every game of the series. The series stretched out 7 games and the Nationals won Game 7, 92-91, despite trailing 41-24 earlier.rnrnIt is thought that Fort Wayne players were working with gamblers to throw Game 7 and in-turn, the series. The Pistons turned the ball over twice late and committed a foul to give the Nationals free throws to win the Finals. The first turnover was a palming violation with 18 seconds left. Then, with three seconds left the Pistons turned it over again to lose the series.rnrn George Yardley , who committed the palming violation, called out his teammates for throwing the game. Namely, Andy Phillip , who made the turnover with three seconds left. This plot is thought to have been carried out by multiple Pistons players, including Yardley and Phillips. As well as Frankie Brian , who committed the late foul to give the Nationals their first ever title.rnrn[nextslide teaser="No.%202" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_89640" align="alignnone" width="1600"] Moses Malone | Philadelphia 76ers (Photos by NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images)[/caption]rn 2. 1983 championship rnThe Sixers had just lost to the Lakers in six games in the 1982 Finals. Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar absolutely destroyed the Sixers. A Philadelphia entrepreneur named Harold Katz bought the team. One of his first moves was to acquire a piece that would win the Sixers the NBA Finals. On Sept. 2, 1982, the Sixers signed reigning league MVP Moses Malone.rnrnWith Malone, Julius Erving , Maurice Cheeks , Bobby Jones , and Andrew Toney , the Sixers dominated the regular season, finishing with a record of 65-17 -- the best in the NBA.rnrnPrior to the playoffs, league MVP Moses Malone famously said "fo, fo, fo," referring to the fact that the Sixers would only need to play 12 games to win the title. The Sixers easily swept the Knicks in the Eastern semis before cruising past Milwaukee to set up a rematch with Kareem and the Lakers.rnrn[apply_now site_url="thesixersense.com" /]rnrnKatz's acquisition paid off massively. Moses Malone dominated every game of the series, winning Finals MVP, averaging nearly 26 points while grabbing 18 rebounds a game. He held Kareem to a mere 7.5 rebounds per game.rnrnHead coach Billy Cunningham put it simply: "the difference from last year was Moses."rnrnThe 1982-83 Sixers were the last team in franchise history to win the title. With four Hall of Famers on the roster, the Sixers compiled one of the best teams in both Franchise and League history.rnrn[nextslide teaser="No.%201%20" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_97796" align="alignnone" width="3200"] (Photo by NBAP/ NBAE/ Getty Images)[/caption]rn 1. 1967 championship rnThe 1967 Sixers were one of the best teams ever put together. Two years prior, the Sixers acquired Wilt Chamberlain from the Warriors. After 50 games, the 76ers had only lost four. They finished with, then, the best record in league history, 68-13.rnrnThe team featured four Hall of Famers in Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer and Chet Walker . Along with that, they had two more All-Stars in Luke Jackson and Wali Jones .rnrnIn the Conference Finals, Philadelphia ended Boston's reign as champs. In that series, Wilt snagged an NBA playoff record 41 rebounds in one game. That wasn't even his most impressive accomplishment that week...rnrnIn Game 1, Wilt recorded a quadruple-double.rnrnGame 5 of the series saw the Sixers score 140 points. Incredibly, this was only 15 above their 125 point average for the regular season. Right now that is still the third highest mark of all-time.rnrnAfter beating Boston, the Sixers played the San Francisco Warriors in the NBA Finals and handled them 4-2.rnrn[story_link_next description="15%20greatest%20seasons%20in%20franchise%20history" url="https://thesixersense.com/2019/08/13/philadelphia-76ers-15-greatest-seasons-franchise-history/" /]rnrnThe 1967 team is one of the best ever. Wilt Chamberlain won league MVP. In 1980, they were named THE best team of all-time. In 1996 they were named as one of the top 10 teams in league history. Four players averaged almost 20 points a game. Wilt set an NBA record for center's with eight assists per game. He set yet another NBA record shooting 68 percent. There was no stopping this team.

The Sixer Sense

Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking the championship seasons

The Philadelphia 76ers franchise has won three championships. Let’s take a look at all of them.

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