1982–83 NBA season

1982–83 NBA season
League	National Basketball Association
Sport	Basketball
Duration	October 29, 1982 – April 17, 1983 April 19 – May 20, 1983 (Playoffs) May 22 – 31, 1983 (Finals)
TV partner/s	CBS, ESPN, USA
Draft
Top draft pick	James Worthy
Picked by	Los Angeles Lakers
Regular season
Top seed	Philadelphia 76ers
Season MVP	Moses Malone (Philadelphia)
Top scorer	Alex English (Denver)
Playoffs
Eastern champions	Philadelphia 76ers
Eastern runners-up	Milwaukee Bucks
Western champions	Los Angeles Lakers
Western runners-up	San Antonio Spurs
Finals
Finals champions	Philadelphia 76ers
Runners-up	Los Angeles Lakers
Finals MVP	Moses Malone (Philadelphia)
NBA seasons
← 1981–82	1983–84 →

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.

Contents 1 Notable occurrences 2 Final standings 2.1 By division 2.2 By conference 3 Playoffs 4 Statistics leaders 5 NBA awards 6 References 7 See also

Notable occurrences

Coaching changes

Offseason
Team	1981-82 coach	1982-83 coach
Chicago Bulls	Rod Thorn	Paul Westhead
Cleveland Cavaliers	Bill Musselman	Tom Nissalke
New York Knicks	Red Holzman	Hubie Brown
In-season
Team	Outgoing coach	Incoming coach
New Jersey Nets	Larry Brown	Bill Blair

• The 1983 NBA All-Star Game was played at the The Forum in Inglewood, California, with the East defeating the West 132-123. Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers wins the game's MVP award. It was at this game that R&B legend Marvin Gaye performed his famous rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
• This season marks the final season for Larry O'Brien as commissioner of the NBA. In honor of his long tenure, the NBA would rename its Championship trophy after him (originally named after the late Boston Celtics owner Walter A. Brown).
• The USA Network extended their cable deal with the NBA for another two years, and ESPN shared broadcast rights with them.
• The 76ers post a 12-1 record in the playoffs, a record for highest winning percentage in the postseason (since broken by the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers). However, their championship was notable because it would be the last one for the city of Philadelphia until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.^[1]
• The Boston Celtics were swept for the first time in their playoff history at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks in the Conference Semifinals of the 1983 NBA Playoffs. The Bucks swept the Celtics 4-0.
• The 1983 NBA Finals was the last Finals to end before June 1.
• Wilson was a final season of the official NBA Game Ball. [1]
• NBA Action Is FANtastic was the first official slogan of the NBA, it also the first NBA commercials around the world.

Final standings

By division

Atlantic Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Philadelphia 76ers	65	17	.793	–	35–6	30–11	15–9
x-Boston Celtics	56	26	.683	9	33–8	23–18	14–10
x-New Jersey Nets	49	33	.598	16	30–11	19–22	11–13
x-New York Knicks	44	38	.537	21	26–15	18–23	10–14
Washington Bullets	42	40	.512	23	27–14	15–26	10–14

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Milwaukee Bucks	51	31	.622	–	31–10	20–21	22–7
x-Atlanta Hawks	43	39	.524	8	26–15	17–24	21–8
Detroit Pistons	37	45	.451	14	23–18	14–27	19–11
Chicago Bulls	28	54	.341	23	18–23	10–31	13–17
Cleveland Cavaliers	23	59	.280	28	15–26	8–33	8–22
Indiana Pacers	20	62	.244	31	14–27	6–35	6–24

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-San Antonio Spurs	53	29	.646	–	31–10	22–19	21–9
x-Denver Nuggets	45	37	.549	8	29–12	16–25	17–13
Kansas City Kings	45	37	.549	8	30–11	15–26	18–12
Dallas Mavericks	38	44	.463	15	23–18	15–26	15–15
Utah Jazz	30	52	.366	23	21–20	9–32	15–15
Houston Rockets	14	68	.171	39	9–32	5–36	4–26

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers	58	24	.707	–	33–8	25–16	21–9
x-Phoenix Suns	53	29	.646	5	32–9	21–20	21–9
x-Seattle SuperSonics	48	34	.585	10	29–12	19–22	14–16
x-Portland Trail Blazers	46	36	.561	12	31–10	15–26	16–14
Golden State Warriors	30	52	.366	28	21–20	9–32	11–19
San Diego Clippers	25	57	.305	33	18–23	7–34	7–23

By conference

#	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

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-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

Notes

• z, y – division champions
• x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.

	First Round					Conference Semifinals					Conference Finals					NBA Finals
						1	Los Angeles	4
						5	Portland	1
	4	Seattle	0
	5	Portland	2
											1	Los Angeles	4
	Western Conference
										2	San Antonio	2
	3	Phoenix	1
	6	Denver	2
						6	Denver	1
						2	San Antonio	4
																W1	Los Angeles	0
																E1	Philadelphia	4
						1	Philadelphia	4
						5	New York	0
	4	New Jersey	0
	5	New York	2
											1	Philadelphia	4
	Eastern Conference
										2	Milwaukee	1
	3	Boston	2
	6	Atlanta	1
						3	Boston	0
						2	Milwaukee	4

Statistics leaders

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game	Alex English	Denver Nuggets	28.4
Rebounds per game	Moses Malone	Philadelphia 76ers	15.3
Assists per game	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	10.5
Steals per game	Micheal Ray Richardson	Golden State Warriors	2.84
Blocks per game	Tree Rollins	Atlanta Hawks	4.3
FG%	Artis Gilmore	San Antonio Spurs	62.6
FT%	Calvin Murphy	Houston Rockets	92.0
3FG%	Mike Dunleavy	San Antonio Spurs	34.5

NBA awards

• Most Valuable Player: Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
• Rookie of the Year: Terry Cummings, San Diego Clippers
• Defensive Player of the Year: Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
• Sixth Man of the Year: Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers
• Coach of the Year: Don Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks
• All-NBA First Team:
  • Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
  • Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
  • Julius Erving, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
• All-NBA Rookie Team:

• • James Worthy, Los Angeles Lakers
  • Quintin Dailey, Chicago Bulls
  • Terry Cummings, San Diego Clippers
  • Clark Kellogg, Indiana Pacers
  • Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks
• NBA All-Defensive First Team:
  • Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Dan Roundfield, Atlanta Hawks
  • Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
  • Dennis Johnson, Phoenix Suns (tie)
  • Maurice Cheeks, Philadelphia 76ers (tie)
• NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
  • Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
  • Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics
  • Wayne Rollins, Atlanta Hawks
  • Michael Cooper, Los Angeles Lakers
  • T. R. Dunn, Denver Nuggets

Note: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com

References

See also

NBA seasons Also this year: 1982 Draft • 1983 Playoffs • 1983 Finals  • 1983 All-Star Game 1940s 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1950s 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1960s 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1970s 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1980s 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1990s 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 2000s 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2010s 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12

1982–83 NBA season by team 1982 NBA Draft • All-Star Game • Playoffs • Finals • Transactions Eastern Atlantic Boston • New Jersey • New York • Philadelphia • Washington Central Atlanta • Chicago • Cleveland • Detroit • Indiana • Milwaukee Western Midwest Dallas • Denver • Houston • Kansas City • San Antonio • Utah Pacific Golden State • Los Angeles • Phoenix • Portland • San Diego • Seattle