National Basketball Association (NBA)

1982-83 NBA Season Overview

National Basketball Association (NBA)

1982-83 NBA Season Overview

Leagues / Basketball / NBA / 1983 / Season Overview

The 1982–83 NBA season was the 37th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Philadelphia 76ers winning the NBA Championship, sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals. This was the final postseason using the 12-team format, before the NBA expanded the postseason to 16 teams the next season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers defeating the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals. Moses Malone was named NBA Finals MVP. Malone made a famous prediction about the Sixers' chances prior to the playoffs, saying "Fo', fo', fo'" – predicting the number of games the Sixers would need to win each of the three series they would play on the way to a championship. They nearly accomplished this prediction of a sweep of all three rounds, only losing one game (to Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals) en route to the championship. The Sixers set a record for highest winning percentage in the playoffs that was not broken until the Lakers went 15–1 in 2001. The Lakers' mark, however, came after the expansion to the current 16-team, four-round playoff format, which was first implemented in the 1984 playoffs, while the Sixers avoided the first round by virtue of their top seeding.

1983 NBA Champions

Philadelphia 76ers

defeated Los Angeles Lakers

Commissioner Larry O'Brien

Union Director Larry Fleisher

Players' President Bob Lanier

1983 NBA Draft

Pick Player Team

1 Ralph Sampson Rockets

2 Steve Stipanovich Pacers

3 Rodney McCray Rockets

4 Byron Scott Clippers

5 Sidney Green Bulls

View Entire 1983 NBA Draft

1 Comment

Davan S. Mani says:

April 17, 2020 at 11:36 pm

what a year. the competitiveness of the ABL really brought the NBA out of its duldrums.

Reply

1983 NBA Draft

Related Articles

Subscribe to our monthly Sports History Newsletter

1 Comment

LEAVE A COMMENT Cancel reply