With the NBA in an indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19, we continue our day-by-day look back at the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. We continue down our path into Sixers history every day as we look to fill the void left by the absence of basketball.
For this edition, we take this back to the 1983 NBA Finals with the Sixers locked in a battle with the Los Angeles Lakers. Philadelphia was looking to continue their dominant postseason after blowing through the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference portion of the playoffs and then taking Game 1 with the Lakers. They were looking to take a 2-0 lead before the scene shifted to Los Angeles so this was a big game for Philadelphia.
May 26, 1983
The Lakers were a star-studded group led by the great Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar while also having solid role players such as Jamaal Wilkes and Bob McAdoo. However, Philadelphia was on a mission and all of those stars that the Lakers possessed did not bother the Sixers one bit.
Moses Malone went right to work in the paint scoring 24 points with 12 rebounds while Maurice Cheeks had 19 points with eight assists and Andrew Toney had 19 points. Julius Erving had 14 points and seven rebounds and Bobby Jones added another 14 off the bench and the Sixers came away with 103-93 win to take a 2-0 series lead. Philadelphia had all of the control as the series shifted to Southern California.
The Sixers took care of business at home, but things would be much tougher on the road. Philadelphia may have all of the momentum and the lead, but the Lakers did knock off the Sixers just the season before. Philadelphia needs to keep its focus in Game 3. [lawrence-related id=31530,31524,31516]