1983 NBA Finals

1983 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Philadelphia 76ers Billy Cunningham 4 Los Angeles Lakers Pat Riley 0
Dates	May 22–31
MVP	Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers)
Hall of Famers	76ers: Maurice Cheeks (2018) Julius Erving (1993) Bobby Jones (2019) Moses Malone (2001) Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1995) Michael Cooper (2024) Magic Johnson (2002) Bob McAdoo (2000) Jamaal Wilkes (2012) James Worthy (2003; did not play) Coaches: Billy Cunningham (1986, player) Pat Riley (2008) Broadcasters: Chick Hearn (2003, contributor) Officials: Hugh Evans (2022) Darell Garretson (2016) Earl Strom (1995)
Eastern finals	76ers defeated Bucks, 4–1
Western finals	Lakers defeated Spurs, 4–2

The 1983 NBA World Championship Series, 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 four games to zero to win their third NBA championship. After their previous four final meetings, they beat the Lakers for the first time in NBA Finals history. 76ers center Moses Malone was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). This, along with the 1989 NBA Finals, were the only two NBA championships of the 1980s not to be won by either the Lakers or the Boston Celtics; every NBA Finals of that decade featured either the Lakers or Celtics, and sometimes both (1984, 1985, 1987). Coincidentally, the Lakers were also swept in the 1989 NBA Finals, that time by the Detroit Pistons.

Background

Philadelphia 76ers

Main article: 1982–83 Philadelphia 76ers season

The 76ers lost their first two Finals meetings with the Lakers in 1980 and 1982. While Julius Erving played superbly in both series, their frontcourt of Darryl Dawkins, Caldwell Jones, and Bobby Jones couldn't neutralize Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So in the off-season, the 76ers acquired Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets in an effort to counter Abdul-Jabbar, in addition to providing some offense and rebounding to the team. They parted ways with Caldwell Jones, Dawkins, and Lionel Hollins before the season, while giving greater responsibility to high-scoring guard Andrew Toney and backup playmaker Clint Richardson, and adding forwards Clemon Johnson and rookie Marc Iavaroni.

Malone's acquisition paid dividends, as the 76ers won 65 games in the 1982–83 NBA season. Prior to the playoffs, Malone predicted the team would win in four games in each of the three rounds, ending it with the statement Fo, Fo, Fo. The 76ers would steamroll through the playoffs, sweeping the New York Knicks 4–0 in the conference semifinals, before overcoming the Milwaukee Bucks in five games.

Los Angeles Lakers

Main article: 1982–83 Los Angeles Lakers season

The Lakers earned the top pick of the 1982 NBA draft, becoming the only defending champion to earn the top overall pick in the same season. This was because Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien traded their first round pick and Butch Lee to the Lakers for Don Ford and draft pick Chad Kinch three years earlier. Because the Cavaliers earned the worst record at 15–67, they would have earned the top overall pick via a coin toss with the 17–65 San Diego Clippers. Instead, the Lakers would earn the top pick and ultimately selected future Hall of Famer James Worthy first overall.

The Lakers won 58 games the next season. Worthy was a strong contender for Rookie of the Year when he broke his leg late in the season, therefore missing the rest of the season and the playoffs. Despite Worthy's absence, Magic Johnson, already a top-level guard, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 35 and still in his prime, led the Lakers back to the Finals. They beat the Portland Trail Blazers 4–1 and the San Antonio Spurs 4–2 in the second and third playoff rounds, respectively.

Road to the Finals

Main article: 1983 NBA Playoffs

Los Angeles Lakers (Western Conference champion)		Philadelphia 76ers (Eastern Conference champion)
# Western Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 c-Los Angeles Lakers 58 24 .707 – 2 y-San Antonio Spurs 53 29 .646 5 3 x-Phoenix Suns 53 29 .646 5 4 x-Seattle SuperSonics 48 34 .585 10 5 x-Portland Trail Blazers 46 36 .561 12 6 x-Denver Nuggets 45 37 .549 13 7 Kansas City Kings 45 37 .549 13 8 Dallas Mavericks 38 44 .463 20 9 Utah Jazz 30 52 .366 28 9 Golden State Warriors 30 52 .366 28 11 San Diego Clippers 25 57 .305 33 12 Houston Rockets 14 68 .171 44 1st seed in the West, 2nd best league record	Regular season		# Eastern Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Philadelphia 76ers 65 17 .793 – 2 y-Milwaukee Bucks 51 31 .622 14 3 x-Boston Celtics 56 26 .683 9 4 x-New Jersey Nets 49 33 .598 16 5 x-New York Knicks 44 38 .537 21 6 x-Atlanta Hawks 43 39 .524 22 7 Washington Bullets 42 40 .512 23 8 Detroit Pistons 37 45 .451 28 9 Chicago Bulls 28 54 .341 37 10 Cleveland Cavaliers 23 59 .280 42 11 Indiana Pacers 20 62 .244 45 1st seed in the East, best league record
Earned first-round bye	First Round		Earned first-round bye
Defeated the (5) Portland Trail Blazers, 4–1	Conference Semifinals		Defeated the (5) New York Knicks, 4–0
Defeated the (2) San Antonio Spurs, 4–2	Conference Finals		Defeated the (2) Milwaukee Bucks, 4–1

Regular season series

The Philadelphia 76ers won both games in the regular season series:

December 5, 1982

Philadelphia 76ers 114, Los Angeles Lakers 104

The Forum, Inglewood, California

January 5, 1983

Los Angeles Lakers 120, Philadelphia 76ers 122 (OT)

The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Series summary

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	May 22	Philadelphia 76ers	113–107 (1–0)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 2	May 26	Philadelphia 76ers	103–93 (2–0)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 3	May 29	Los Angeles Lakers	94–111 (0–3)	Philadelphia 76ers
Game 4	May 31	Los Angeles Lakers	108–115 (0–4)	Philadelphia 76ers

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 third 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.

Until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 4–1, this was the last time a team from Philadelphia in the Big Four leagues won their league's championship.

Game 1

CBS

May 22 3:35 p.m. EDT

Los Angeles Lakers 107, Philadelphia 76ers 113
Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 37–24, 26–31, 24–28
Pts: Norm Nixon 26 Rebs: Mark Landsberger 10 Asts: Magic Johnson 11		Pts: Moses Malone 27 Rebs: Moses Malone 18 Asts: Julius Erving 9
Philadelphia leads the series, 1–0

The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Attendance: 18,482 Referees: No. 14 Jack Madden No. 4 Ed T. Rush

Game 2

CBS

May 26 9:05 p.m. EDT

Los Angeles Lakers 93, Philadelphia 76ers 103
Scoring by quarter: 29–26, 26–25, 20–28, 18–24
Pts: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 23 Rebs: Magic Johnson 8 Asts: Magic Johnson 13		Pts: Moses Malone 24 Rebs: Moses Malone 12 Asts: Maurice Cheeks 8
Philadelphia leads the series, 2–0

The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Attendance: 18,482 Referees: No. 10 Darell Garretson No. 9 John Vanak No. 12 Earl Strom (alternate)

Game 3

CBS

May 29 12:35 p.m. PDT

Philadelphia 76ers 111, Los Angeles Lakers 94
Scoring by quarter: 21–32, 28–20, 23–20, 39–22
Pts: Moses Malone 28 Rebs: Moses Malone 19 Asts: Moses Malone 6		Pts: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 23 Rebs: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 15 Asts: Magic Johnson 13
Philadelphia leads the series, 3–0

The Forum, Inglewood, California Attendance: 17,505 Referees: No. 20 Jess Kersey No. 11 Jake O'Donnell No. 25 Hugh Evans (alternate)

Game 4

CBS

May 31 6:05 p.m. PDT

Philadelphia 76ers 115, Los Angeles Lakers 108
Scoring by quarter: 24–26, 27–39, 31–28, 33–15
Pts: Moses Malone 24 Rebs: Moses Malone 23 Asts: Andrew Toney 9		Pts: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 28 Rebs: Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Landsberger, McGee 7 each Asts: Magic Johnson 15
Philadelphia wins the series, 4–0

The Forum, Inglewood, California Attendance: 17,505 Referees: No. 25 Hugh Evans No. 12 Earl Strom No. 20 Jess Kersey (alternate)

Player statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Philadelphia 76ers

Philadelphia 76ers statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Andrew Toney	4	4	36.8	.423	.000	.848	2.3	5.8	1.3	0.3	22.0
Moses Malone	4	4	39.3	.507	.000	.660	18.0	2.0	1.5	1.5	25.8
Maurice Cheeks	4	4	35.8	.553	.000	.600	2.3	6.3	2.8	0.0	15.3
Bobby Jones	4	0	26.0	.568	.000	.667	4.8	2.8	2.0	2.3	12.0
Marc Iavaroni	4	4	24.8	.588	.000	.375	5.5	2.0	0.3	0.8	5.8
Julius Erving	4	4	38.3	.469	.000	.800	8.5	5.0	1.3	2.8	19.0
Clint Richardson	4	0	23.0	.393	.000	.750	3.3	1.8	1.3	0.3	6.3
Clemon Johnson	3	0	12.7	.385	.000	.000	3.0	0.3	0.3	0.3	3.3
Earl Cureton	3	0	6.3	.333	.000	.000	1.0	0.3	0.7	0.0	0.7
Mark McNamara	1	0	1.0	1.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.0
Reggie Johnson	1	0	1.0	.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Franklin Edwards	3	0	1.0	.000	.000	1.000	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Bob McAdoo	2	0	21.0	.409	.500	1.000	7.0	0.5	2.5	1.0	11.0
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	4	4	38.8	.552	.000	.769	7.5	3.0	0.8	2.3	23.5
Jamaal Wilkes	4	4	39.3	.461	.000	.571	5.8	1.8	2.0	1.3	18.5
Norm Nixon	3	3	36.7	.405	.000	.636	2.7	4.7	1.3	0.3	13.7
Michael Cooper	4	1	31.5	.486	.333	.833	3.5	1.8	1.5	0.3	10.0
Kurt Rambis	4	4	21.3	.480	.000	.778	4.5	0.8	0.5	1.5	7.8
Mark Landsberger	4	0	14.0	.400	.000	1.000	5.0	0.5	0.0	0.5	2.5
Magic Johnson	4	4	44.8	.408	.000	.929	7.8	12.5	1.8	0.5	19.0
Clay Johnson	3	0	4.0	.600	.000	.000	0.7	0.3	0.3	0.3	2.0
Mike McGee	2	0	10.0	.333	.000	.000	3.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	3.0
Dwight Jones	2	0	8.5	.125	.000	.000	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0
Steve Mix	1	0	1.0	.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Television coverage

The 1983 NBA Finals was 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.

Russell departed CBS following the series, and was replaced by former Celtics teammate Tom Heinsohn. Russell would later resurface as a color analyst on TBS until 1987.

Team rosters

Philadelphia 76ers

1982–83 Philadelphia 76ers roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From G 10 Cheeks, Maurice 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1956–09–08 West Texas A&M F 25 Cureton, Earl 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1957–09–03 Detroit Mercy G 14 Edwards, Franklin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1959–02–02 Cleveland State F 6 Erving, Julius 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1950–02–22 UMass F 8 Iavaroni, Marc 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1956–09–15 Virginia C 45 Johnson, Clemon 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1956–09–12 Florida A&M F 33 Johnson, Reggie 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1957–06–25 Tennessee F 24 Jones, Bobby 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1951–12–18 North Carolina C 2 Malone, Moses 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1955–03–23 Petersburg (HS) C 31 McNamara, Mark 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1959–06–08 California G 4 Richardson, Clint 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1956–08–07 Seattle G 22 Toney, Andrew 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 Guokas (Saint Joseph's) Jack McMahon (St. John's) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Los Angeles Lakers

1982–83 Los Angeles Lakers roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 33 Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1947–04–16 UCLA G 21 Cooper, Michael 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1956–04–15 New Mexico G 34 Johnson, Clay 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1956–07–18 Missouri G 32 Johnson, Magic 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1959–08–14 Michigan State F 13 Jones, Dwight 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1952–02–27 Houston G 15 Jordan, Eddie 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1955–01–29 Rutgers F 54 Landsberger, Mark 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1955–05–21 Minnesota C 11 McAdoo, Bob 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1951–09–25 North Carolina F 40 McGee, Mike 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1959–07–29 Michigan F 50 Mix, Steve 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1947–12–30 Toledo G 10 Nixon, Norm 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1955–10–11 Duquesne F 31 Rambis, Kurt 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 213 lb (97 kg) 1958–02–25 Santa Clara F 52 Wilkes, Jamaal 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1953–05–02 UCLA F 42 Worthy, James 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 (Penn) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

See also

• 76ers–Lakers rivalry
• 1983 NBA Playoffs

External links

• NBA History