Need help with these NBA History questions about the 1980-89 era

[PWB15]

I was only a kid during this time and need some help with this questions

1. Was there a injury that stopped the Lakers from returning to the Finals in 1981?

2. What made the Sixers a bad matchup for the Celtics in 1982 and 1983?

3. What prevented the Lakers from reaching the Finals in 1986 after going 5 straight years?

4. Why is Michael Jordan's 63 pt game against the Celtics always talked about and they lost the game?

5. How did the defending world champions 76ers lose in the first round the following year in the 84 Playoffs?


These questions have been bugging me for years

[mr4speed]

I was only a kid during this time and need some help with this questions

1. Was there a injury that stopped the Lakers from returning to the Finals in 1981?

2. What made the Sixers a bad matchup for the Celtics in 1982 and 1983?

3. What prevented the Lakers from reaching the Finals in 1986 after going 5 straight years?

4. Why is Michael Jordan's 63 pt game against the Celtics always talked about and they lost the game?

5. How did the defending world champions 76ers lose in the first round the following year in the 84 Playoffs?


These questions have been bugging me for years

I will try to answer as best I can remember.
1-Magic missed 45 games that season due to knee injury but LA still had a good team and was 28 wins and 17 losses w/o Magic. Magic returned in game #66 so LA had 17 games to get ready for playoffs. Houston upset them in the then very short best of 3 series - Magic played very poorly in the game 3 loss at the Forum.
2- The sixers were just better this year - Moses Malone was a beast as a center. In 83 Boston lost to the Bucks, Bird played poorly - he missed 1 game with the flu. Bucks swept them I think 4-0. 1983 was the sixers year, I think they only lost 1 playoff game!!
3-in 1986 LA got beat 4 games to 1 as the twin towers of Sampson and Akeem just dominated LA inside. Kareem was 39 years old at this point and in the off season Pat Riley decided Magic needed to be the focal point on offense and the team changed some personnel and Magic had his greatest season - in my opinion.
4-the 63 point games was and still is great to watch, but the 86 Celtics may have been the best team ever assembled. The frontline of a healthy Walton, Parrish,McHale and Bird was formidable rotaton and that team had great ball movement, chemistry and shooters.
5- I honestly cant remember off the top of my head if there was something that happened in 84 to the sixers.

[mr4speed]

I was only a kid during this time and need some help with this questions

1. Was there a injury that stopped the Lakers from returning to the Finals in 1981?

2. What made the Sixers a bad matchup for the Celtics in 1982 and 1983?

3. What prevented the Lakers from reaching the Finals in 1986 after going 5 straight years?

4. Why is Michael Jordan's 63 pt game against the Celtics always talked about and they lost the game?

5. How did the defending world champions 76ers lose in the first round the following year in the 84 Playoffs?


These questions have been bugging me for years

I will try to answer as best I can remember.
1-Magic missed 45 games that season due to knee injury but LA still had a good team and was 28 wins and 17 losses w/o Magic. Magic returned in game #66 so LA had 17 games to get ready for playoffs. Houston upset them in the then very short best of 3 series - Magic played very poorly in the game 3 loss at the Forum.
2- The sixers were just better this year - Moses Malone was a beast as a center. In 83 Boston lost to the Bucks, Bird played poorly - he missed 1 game with the flu. Bucks swept them I think 4-0. 1983 was the sixers year, I think they only lost 1 playoff game!!
3-in 1986 LA got beat 4 games to 1 as the twin towers of Sampson and Akeem just dominated LA inside. Kareem was 39 years old at this point and in the off season Pat Riley decided Magic needed to be the focal point on offense and the team changed some personnel and Magic had his greatest season - in my opinion.
4-the 63 point games was and still is great to watch, but the 86 Celtics may have been the best team ever assembled. The front line of a healthy Walton, Parrish,McHale and Bird was formidable rotation and that team had great ball movement, chemistry and shooters.
5- I honestly cant remember off the top of my head if there was something that happened in 84 to the sixers.

[PsychoBe]

michael jordan had the highest scoring game in nba playoff history and after the game bird said that was "god disguised as jordan"

[PWB15]

michael jordan had the highest scoring game in nba playoff history and after the game bird said that was "god disguised as jordan"



But what does all that mean if his team still lost? I would think a playoff lost would overshadow the 63 pts right? The same way a loss in the Finals would overshadow GS's 73 regular season wins

[Da_Realist]

But what does all that mean if his team still lost? I would think a playoff lost would overshadow the 63 pts right? The same way a loss in the Finals would overshadow GS's 73 regular season wins

Your viewpoint is too narrow. Yes, the Bulls lost the game but it announced to the world a supernova that would eventually take the baton from Bird and Magic. It pretty much foreshadowed the next 12 years. It showed his obvious talent and showmanship but it also showed his intense desire to win (he missed most of the season with a broken leg and fought with Bulls management to play) and fearlessness (gave all he had against arguably the greatest team ever on their floor). Most would say this was the game that officially introduced MJ into the realm of the greats. Before that, he was just a talented rookie. After that, he was the next face of the league.

[Stringer Bell]

This is an extremely long article, but a very good one if you enjoy reading about basketball history. The Rockets had the makings of a great team but fell apart due to injuries and drug abuse.

http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-hakeem-olajuwon-ralph-sampson-1980s-houston-rockets/

The Lakers lost in 86' to the Rockets with their "Twin Towers" duo of Olajuwon and Sampson, along with a good Rocket backcourt. After the season, the Lakers and other teams were worried about being outsized in the futures. Magic actually wanted the Lakers to trade James Worthy for his friend Mark Aguirre and a draft pick which was going to be used to get a big guy in Roy Tarpley. Luckily for the Lakers this did not go through.

This is one of the reasons Jordan disliked Magic early on (along with the alleged freeze out in the 85 ASG). Jordan was friends with Worthy at UNC and didn't like how Magic treated his fellow UNC alum. UNC players were always taught to be loyal to other UNC players. One coach referred to it as "the Dean Smith cult".

[Stringer Bell]

Philadelphia and Boston was a great rivalry during this era. They always have each other problems. ESPN ranked their 1981 ECF as the greatest series ever and I do not disagree. Games 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 all went down to the wire and were decided by 2 points or less. Game 6 was crazy, Cedric Maxwell attacked a fan, he pushed an old man to the ground and didn't even get kicked out of the game. Later on, a fan threw ice at Maxwell during a play in which Bobby Jones dunked on Larry Bird and almost had his nuts in Bird's face. Jones was a very good leaper.

Game 7 was super intense. Bill Simmons remarked about how physical it was in the fourth quarter with bodies flying and diving for loose balls. Definitely worth watching.

Philly had taken out Boston in 5 I believe, and in 1982 they beat Boston in 7 with Andrew "The Boston Strangler" Toney shredding up the Boston defense in game 7, played at the Garden.

It's been said that in 1983, the team basically quit because they disliked their coach Bill Fitch. Bird was disgusted with his teammates for their lack of effort.

Three years later, they ended up playing the Rockets, coached by Fitch, in the finals.

[Da_Realist]

This is one of the reasons Jordan disliked Magic early on (along with the alleged freeze out in the 85 ASG). Jordan was friends with Worthy at UNC and didn't like how Magic treated his fellow UNC alum.

Ironic, isn't it?

[feyki]

I was only a kid during this time and need some help with this questions

1. Was there a injury that stopped the Lakers from returning to the Finals in 1981?

2. What made the Sixers a bad matchup for the Celtics in 1982 and 1983?

3. What prevented the Lakers from reaching the Finals in 1986 after going 5 straight years?

4. Why is Michael Jordan's 63 pt game against the Celtics always talked about and they lost the game?

5. How did the defending world champions 76ers lose in the first round the following year in the 84 Playoffs?


These questions have been bugging me for years

1 - Magic

2 - They were already stronger than Celtics

3 - Many complication there , but big part of Kareem's fall

4 - There was big gap between of two team , but MJ made that Bulls as competitive against one of the greatest team ever .

5 - Mosses passed his prime ( even in his 28 , it's bad for Moses' career ) .

[PWB15]

1 - Magic

2 - They were already stronger than Celtics

3 - Many complication there , but big part of Kareem's fall

4 - There was big gap between of two team , but MJ made that Bulls as competitive against one of the greatest team ever .

5 - Mosses passed his prime ( even in his 28 , it's bad for Moses' career ) .


Nets had Michael Ray Richardson going off I forgot

[Champ]

I will try to answer as best I can remember.
1-Magic missed 45 games that season due to knee injury but LA still had a good team and was 28 wins and 17 losses w/o Magic. Magic returned in game #66 so LA had 17 games to get ready for playoffs. Houston upset them in the then very short best of 3 series - Magic played very poorly in the game 3 loss at the Forum.
2- The sixers were just better this year - Moses Malone was a beast as a center. In 83 Boston lost to the Bucks, Bird played poorly - he missed 1 game with the flu. Bucks swept them I think 4-0. 1983 was the sixers year, I think they only lost 1 playoff game!!
3-in 1986 LA got beat 4 games to 1 as the twin towers of Sampson and Akeem just dominated LA inside. Kareem was 39 years old at this point and in the off season Pat Riley decided Magic needed to be the focal point on offense and the team changed some personnel and Magic had his greatest season - in my opinion.
4-the 63 point games was and still is great to watch, but the 86 Celtics may have been the best team ever assembled. The frontline of a healthy Walton, Parrish,McHale and Bird was formidable rotaton and that team had great ball movement, chemistry and shooters.
5- I honestly cant remember off the top of my head if there was something that happened in 84 to the sixers.

This is a pretty good rundown.

I'd argue that the '81-'82 Celtics were better than Philly. They beat them twice during the regular season and had the best record and best overall efficiency in the league that year. But Tiny Archibald, the engine that drove the team's motor that season, went down in the playoffs and it cost them. Note: Contrary to what's written above, this was before Moses had joined the Sixers.

With Moses on board, the '82-'83 team was an entirely different beast, and simply too much for the Celtics or anyone else that year. Probably the last dominant year for Moses, however.

The Lakers were still very, very good in '86 if not quite up to par with an all-time Celtics team that season. Still, they should've reached the finals, but appeared to take an upstart and quite talented Rockets team for granted. Then there was Ralph Samson's circus shot (you can look that one up).

With Jordan in '86, you have to understand that he single-handedly took one of the best teams ever to double-overtime in record-breaking fashion. It was a thrilling game, and it's not as if the Celtics played poorly. Bird had a fantastic game, as well, but the C's simply could not stop MJ, despite throwing all sorts of different defenders his way.

Both Malone and Mo Cheeks slipped a bit in the '83-'84 season, contributing to Philly's early exit, but by that point, the Celtics had already usurped them as the premier team in the East. Philly also lost a very close game to the Nets that year in the series finale - back when first round series were only best of fives, making it easier for an upset to take place.

[feyki]

Nets had Michael Ray Richardson going off I forgot

Yes , he was the best player of that series . Michael Ray was Baron Davis of those days . Solid individual talent , but very inconsistency career .

[Champ]

Yes , he was the best player of that series . Michael Ray was Baron Davis of those days . Solid individual talent , but very inconsistency career .

Sad how drugs got the best of him. He had tons of potential.