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1982–83 NBA season

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1982–83 NBA season
LeagueNational Basketball Association
SportBasketball
DurationOct 29, 1982 – Apr 17, 1983
Apr 19 – May 20, 1983 (Playoffs)
May 22–31, 1983 (Finals)
Number of teams23
TV partner(s)CBS, ESPN, USA
Draft
Top draft pickJames Worthy
Picked byLos Angeles Lakers
Regular season
Top seedPhiladelphia 76ers
Season MVPMoses Malone (Philadelphia)
Top scorerAlex English (Denver)
Playoffs
Eastern championsPhiladelphia 76ers
  Eastern runners-upMilwaukee Bucks
Western championsLos Angeles Lakers
  Western runners-upSan Antonio Spurs
Finals
ChampionsPhiladelphia 76ers
  Runners-upLos Angeles Lakers
Finals MVPMoses Malone (Philadelphia)
NBA seasons

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.

Notable occurrences

Coaching changes
Off-season
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 won the game's MVP award. It was at this game that R&B singer Marvin Gaye performed his famous rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner".
  • This season marked 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 (it was 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 posted a 12–1 record in the playoffs, a record for highest winning percentage in the postseason (since broken by the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers).
  • 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.
  • This was the final season for Wilson as the official NBA game ball; it was replaced in that capacity by Spalding in the following season, which has supplied the game balls to the league since then.[1]
  • Ted Stepien sold the Cleveland Cavaliers to Gordon Gund. Under Stepien, attendance at the Cavaliers' home arena at Richfield Coliseum declined, first-round picks were traded in consecutive years (which led the NBA to institute the Ted Stepien rule), and long-time announcer Joe Tait was fired (he returned following the Gund purchase). The Cavaliers had five different coaches and three consecutive losing seasons under Stepien.
  • On November 3, 1982, Randy Smith played in his 845th consecutive NBA game, breaking Johnny Kerr's iron man record.[2] The game was a 130–111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in which Smith started and scored 14 points. Smith's iron man streak ended at 906 games when he played his last game with the Clippers on March 13, 1983 and was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. The record was later surpassed by A. C. Green in 1997.

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 c-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 – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs and first round bye
  • c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs and first round bye
  • y – Clinched division title and first round bye
  • 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.

Main article: 1983 NBA Playoffs
First Round Conference Semifinals Conference Finals NBA Finals
            
1 Los Angeles 4
Western Conference
5 Portland 1
4 Seattle 0
5 Portland 2
1 Los Angeles 4
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 4.29
FG% Artis Gilmore San Antonio Spurs .626
FT% Calvin Murphy Houston Rockets .920
3FG% Mike Dunleavy San Antonio Spurs .345

NBA awards

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

Player of the week

The following players were named NBA Player of the Week.

Week Player
Oct. 29 – Nov. 7 Reggie Theus (Chicago Bulls)
Nov. 8 – Nov. 14 Kelly Tripucka (Detroit Pistons)
Nov. 15 – Nov. 21 Alex English (Denver Nuggets)
Nov. 22 – Nov. 28 Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
Nov. 29 – Dec. 5 Buck Williams (New Jersey Nets)
Dec. 6 – Dec. 12 Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
Dec. 13 – Dec. 19 Isiah Thomas (Detroit Pistons)
Dec. 20 – Dec. 26 Maurice Lucas (Phoenix Suns)
Dec. 27 – Jan. 2 Kiki Vandeweghe (Denver Nuggets)
Jan. 3 – Jan. 9 Mickey Johnson (New Jersey Nets)
Jan. 10 – Jan. 16 Alex English (Denver Nuggets)
Jan. 17 – Jan. 23 Joe Barry Carroll (Golden State Warriors)
Jan. 24 – Jan. 30 Artis Gilmore (San Antonio Spurs)
Jan. 31 – Feb. 6 Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers)
Feb. 7 – Feb. 21 Larry Nance (Phoenix Suns)
Feb. 22 – Feb. 27 Walter Davis (Phoenix Suns)
Feb. 28 – Mar. 6 John Drew (Utah Jazz)
Mar. 7 – Mar. 13 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)
Mar. 14 – Mar. 20 Andrew Toney (Philadelphia 76ers)
Gus Williams (Seattle SuperSonics)
Mar. 21 – Mar. 27 Jeff Ruland (Washington Bullets)
Mar. 28 – Apr. 3 Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
Apr. 4 – Apr. 10 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)
Apr. 11 – Apr. 17 Mike Glenn (Atlanta Hawks)

Player of the month

The following players were named NBA Player of the Month.

Month Player
October/November Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
December Larry Drew (Kansas City Kings)
Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers)
January Alex English (Denver Nuggets)
February Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers)
March Jeff Ruland (Washington Bullets)

Rookie of the month

The following players were named NBA Rookie of the Month.

Month Rookie
October/November Terry Cummings (San Diego Clippers)
December Clark Kellogg (Indiana Pacers)
January Terry Cummings (San Diego Clippers)
February Terry Cummings (San Diego Clippers)
March Terry Cummings (San Diego Clippers)

Coach of the month

The following coaches were named NBA Coach of the Month.

Month Coach
October/November Scotty Robertson (Detroit Pistons)
December Billy Cunningham (Philadelphia 76ers)
January Pat Riley (Los Angeles Lakers)
February Hubie Brown (New York Knicks)
March Stan Albeck (San Antonio Spurs)

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "Clippers' Smith NBA Iron Man". USA Today. November 4, 1982.
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