The 1983 championship was an important one for the Philadelphia 76ers. After years of coming up short in the Julius Erving era, the Sixers brought in dominant big man Moses Malone in the 1982 offseason in order to help him get over the hump.
Malone and the Sixers dominated in the regular season as they went 65-17 and Malone ended up winning his third MVP award. He and Erving were one of the best duos in the league and the Sixers had Bobby Jones win the 6th Man of the Year award for his contributions off the bench.
Before the playoffs began, Malone gave a "Fo', fo', fo'," proclamation that the Sixers meaning they would sweep their way to a title. Well, they swept the Boston Celtics in Round 1 and the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals, but beat the Milwaukee
Bucks in five games in the conference finals.
Bleacher Report ranked the top 99 teams in all of sports and the 1983 Sixers come in ranked No. 50:
Moses Malone didn't lack for confidence, as he predicted the 76ers would sweep their three playoff opponents with his "fo, fo, fo" comment.
Malone wasn't far off, as the 76ers lost just one playoff game.
Most impressively, they swept the Magic-and-Kareem Lakers in the Finals. Malone won Finals MVP, averaging 25.8 points and 18.0 rebounds per game.
Malone won finals MVP as he averaged 25.8 points and 18.0 rebounds in the sweep while Andrew Toney averaged 22.0 points and 5.8 assists per game and Erving poured in 19.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers 1983 championship team ranked 50th-best team of all time
