Tag: Moses Malone

Today in history: Calvin Murphy scores 42 to stun Spurs in Game 7

The Rockets (40-42) were no match for San Antonio (52-30) in the 1980-81 regular season. But led by Murphy, they won in the playoffs.

With a record of 52-30, the 1980-81 San Antonio Spurs won the NBA’s Midwest Division and were the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. By comparison, the No. 6 Houston Rockets (40-42) limped into the playoffs with a losing record and didn’t seem to pose much of a threat.

But led by two future Hall of Famers in guard Calvin Murphy and center Moses Malone, Houston won when it mattered most on April 17, 1981.

The Rockets defeated the Spurs in seven games in their second-round series, punctuated by a 105-100 Game 7 victory (box score) in San Antonio. Houston outscored the hosts by 14 points in the second half.

Murphy scored a game-high 42 points on 19-of-28 shooting (67.9%), while Malone had 21 points and 16 rebounds. The Spurs were led by 21 points from future Hall of Fame guard George Gervin, but the Rockets limited him to just 8-of-22 shooting (36.4%) from the field.

The Rockets went on to defeat the Kansas City Kings in the ensuing 1981 Western Conference Finals, four games to one, and advanced to the first NBA Finals in franchise history. (In the championship round, they lost in six games to Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics.)

For Murphy, it was the third-to-last season of his storied 13-year NBA career. Though his game had begun showing some signs of aging, he was able to dig deep in the playoffs and recapture his peak form.

Meanwhile, Malone departed in free agency after the 1981-82 season. That effectively ended that iteration of the franchise and led to two losing seasons in 1982-83 and 1983-84, which resulted in Houston winning the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft in consecutive years. With those, they selected big men Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon — cornerstones of the next generation. By 1986, they returned to the NBA Finals.

Less than a decade later, Olajuwon finally led the Rockets to the promised land for the first time with a pair of NBA titles in 1993-94 and 1994-95.

In their era, Murphy and Malone never took the Rockets to those heights. Nonetheless, they were a critical part of the foundation for what remains one of the league’s best franchises to this day.

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Sixers throwback: Moses Malone leads Sixers past Bullets in Game 1

On this day in Philadelphia 76ers history, Moses Malone led the Sixers past the Washington Bullets in Game 1.

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.

This edition takes us back to the ’80s as we take a look at the 1985 Sixers heading into the playoffs to take on the Washington Bullets. Philadelphia was two years removed from winning a title in 1983 and they were determined to get back there. They got off to a good start in Game 1 as the Finals MVP of the ’83 team got the team off on the right foot.

April 17, 1985

The Sixers were the 3 seed and held home-court advantage while the Bullets had an upset on their mind. The Bullets were deep as they were led by Gus Williams. Cliff Robinson, and Jeff Malone in the starting lineup with an All-Star on their bench in the form of Jeff Ruland. Still, they were no match for Philadelphia’s duo of Malone and Julius Erving.

Malone was terrific as he led the Sixers with 26 points, five rebounds, five assists, and six steals while Erving had 24 points, six rebounds, and three steals and Maurice Cheeks added 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and five steals. Those efforts allowed Philadelphia to get a 104-97 win and take a 1-0 series lead.

The win gave the Sixers the momentum they needed and they won to win the series 3-1. They then swept the Milwaukee Bucks in Round 2 and they were primed to head back to the NBA Finals, but they then fell to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in five games. [lawrence-related id=29510,29502,29492]

How much did Michael Jordan outscore fellow NBA legends in their matchups?

Even if not the top scorer in NBA history, Michael Jordan is probably the best scorer we’ve seen on a basketball court. It was not very often that an opponent (or a teammate) put more points on the board than him. Actually, only one player outscored …

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Even if not the top scorer in NBA history, Michael Jordan is probably the best scorer we’ve seen on a basketball court. It was not very often that an opponent (or a teammate) put more points on the board than him.

Actually, only one player outscored MJ in their matchups during his Chicago years. And then he did it again when His Airness was a member of the Wizards…

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Sixers start, bench, cut: Wilt Chamberlain, Joel Embiid, Moses Malone

We play another game of start one, bench one, cut one for the Philadelphia 76ers.

With no games in the NBA going on right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, we play another game of start one, bench one, cut one in the style of the Philadelphia 76ers. We have done four positions thus far and now we finish up with the fifth position, the center spot.

If you want to check out the other positions, see here:

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Tuesday’s edition focuses on the top three at the center spot in Sixers franchise history: Wilt Chamberlain, Joel Embiid, and Moses Malone. They are also three of the best players in the franchise’s history regardless of the position. This is a tough position to judge, but we are going to get right into it. If you remember the rules, the rules are that they are playing in today’s game with today’s rules.

Start: Wilt Chamberlain

Chamberlain was somewhat of a superhero. He won an MVP in each of his three full seasons in Philadelphia averaging 27.6 points and 23.9 rebounds and he led the Sixers to a title in 1967. In his first MVP season in 1965-66, he averaged a ridiculous 33.5 points and 24.6 rebounds. He truly could play in any era due to his dominance.

Bench: Joel Embiid

Embiid is currently one of the best players in the NBA and is, arguably, the best center in the league. He can do so many things inside and out and he is one of the elite players on either end of the floor. His ability to shoot it from the outside as well as being one of the best post players in the game and draw fouls is impressive as ever. You don’t get rid of a guy such as this one.

Cut: Moses Malone

Oh man, this was so tough to do. Malone is incredibly skilled and he has the size to dominate. His run to winning NBA Finals MVP in 1983 was nothing short of spectacular, but this came down to preference at this point. I gave the edge to Embiid because of his 3-point ability. Malone’s impact in Sixers history is much bigger, but that 3-point shot in today’s day and age is so important in the NBA. [lawrence-related id=29400,29393,29383]

Ranking the top five players in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers

We are now ranking the top five players, regardless of position, in Philadelphia 76ers history.

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the more historic teams in the entire league with a ton of successful players and a few titles to boot. So many players have passed through to shape the team’s history and we will try and break down the best five players who have ever donned the Sixers colors.

We have ranked the top five players at each position so far and now we are going to rank the top five players regardless of the positions. [lawrence-related id=28852,28799,28732,28671]

For this list, we will include things such as stats, individual achievements, and placement on the franchise’s all-time lists. We will also be ranking them in descending order. Let’s get into it!

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March Madness: 1983 team voted as best in Philadelphia 76ers history

The final fan votes have been counted and the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers are voted as the best in franchise history.

The final fan votes have been tallied and the last championship team in history came out on top as the best team ever assembled in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers.

We set up a March Madness type of bracket with the top 12 teams in franchise history and had you, the fans, vote on each matchup to find a winner in each one. To see the final results for the previous matchups:

Voting results: Round 1 Round 2  Round 3 Championship Round

The 1982-83 Sixers team defeated the 2000-01 Sixers by a wide margin of 95.45% to 4.55% of the vote. On paper heading into this matchup, it appeared that the 1983 team had the edge and that the 2001 Sixers probably should not have received more votes than the 1967 title-winning Sixers.

The 1983 team was led by one of the most electrifying players in the game in Julius “Dr. J” Erving and he was flanked by a dominant big man in Moses Malone who went on to win Finals MVP of the Finals where the Sixers swept the Los Angeles Lakers. Malone averaged a gaudy 25.8 points and 18.0 rebounds in the series against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Sixers were more than just Erving and Malone too. Andrew Toney was a huge part of that team and he averaged 22 points in the Finals providing terrific play on both ends of the floor. The team also received big contributions from Maurice Cheeks and Bobby Jones as well. They were a complete team.

The 2001 team was special and they were led by the electric Allen Iverson and the inside play of Dikembe Mutombo, but they were not better than the ’83 champions. [lawrence-related id=28994,28985,28977]

Top five worst trades made in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers

We are now ranking the top five worst trades the Philadelphia 76ers ever made.

The Philadelphia 76ers are a franchise of history, tradition, and success–though there hasn’t been much success over the past two decades–but they also have made some awful transactions in their history.

Who could forget just deciding to trade one of the best big men the game has ever seen in Wilt Chamberlain? Or the awful Charles Barkley deal? We’re going to rank those plus a few others in order of the amount of awfulness.

These five deals are all bad, you can decide what’s the absolute worst, but the one thing that can be universally agreed is that the Sixers should not have agreed to any of these trades.

With that said, let’s get into it!

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Ranking the top five centers in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers

We now move on to the fifth and final installment of the top five rankings as we now rank the top five centers in Philadelphia 76ers history.

The center position on a basketball team needs to be the anchor of the team on the defensive end as well as being the guy who provides post play on the offensive end. The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of players do this for their team as they have done a solid job of doing both of those things for the team to be successful.

We have counted down the top five players at each position so far, but now we are moving on to the final position in the lineup: centers. Make sure you check out our previous rankings for the other four positions if you have not seen them yet.

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With that being said, let’s dive into this list!

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Arn Tellem: In high school, Kobe …

Arn Tellem: In high school, Kobe trained with the Philadelphia 76ers. By his senior campaign, the big question was, would Kobe attend a college like La Salle, where Joe was an assistant coach, or turn pro. During the previous three decades, only six U.S. players had joined the NBA without playing college ball, and all of them had been big men: Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins, Bill Willoughby, Shawn Kemp, Thomas Hamilton and Kevin Garnett. Kobe was a 6-foot-6 guard. I asked Kobe what he wanted to do. He didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to the NBA,” he said. “I want to be the next Michael Jordan.”