Philadelphia 76ers Tickets

Staff Writer Nichole P. Pingel
The story of the Philadelphia 76ers began in 1937 New York as the Syracuse Nationals. The Nats joined the NBA in 1949 before moving to Philadelphia in 1963. The Sixers have seen several of the game’s greatest players on its roster and continue to contribute many great moments to the history of the league.

As the NBA was taking shape, Syracuse was placed in the Eastern Division with Philadelphia (Warriors), Boston and New York - thus, planting the seeds of rivalry with the Celtics and Knicks. The Nats earned the respect of their opponents and the league as the team posted a 51-13 record for the season. The team won 31 games at home to receive home court advantage in the 1950 championship round. As a result, their challengers, the Minneapolis Lakers, had to win one game on the Nats’ floor. The Lakers succeeded in Game One and ultimately took the title, four games to two.

Dolph Schayes led the Nats to many disappointing meetings with their rivals in New York and Boston, but he also guided the team to key successes against Philadelphia and Minneapolis. For example, Syracuse swept the Warriors in the first round of the 1951 playoffs but couldn’t hold off the Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals. Three years later, a round-robin playoff system put the Nats against the Celtics. Syracuse survived Boston to face Minneapolis again in the NBA Finals. Although the Nats took the series to seven games, the Lakers again took the title. With the help of a new 24-second shot clock and George Mikan’s retirement, Syracuse was able to claim its first and only NBA Championship in 1955. During the 1955-56 season, the Nats took Boston in the division semifinals but fell to Philadelphia in the division finals. The Warriors were eventually crowned league champions that season. The following season, the Nats joined the rest of the league in watching the Boston Celtics win their first of many league titles. In 1958 Syracuse selected Hal Greer in the draft. He and Schayes brought the Nats back into the postseason by sweeping New York in the semis and held Boston to seven games before losing to the Celtics in the division finals. The Warriors wrapped up the decade nicely by drafting Wilt “The Big Dipper” Chamberlain. Philadelphia then ousted Syracuse in the semifinals.

Syracuse returned the favor a year later as the team swept the Warriors in the 1961 postseason only to face the Celtics in the division finals. Boston allowed the Nats one victory before taking the series in five games. The Nats - Warriors rivalry continued throughout the 1960s, despite the Warrior’s relocation to San Francisco in 1962 and the Nats move to Philadelphia as the 76ers a year later. In 1965 the Warriors made a midseason trade that brought Chamberlain back to his native Philadelphia. Later, the Sixers drafted Billy Cunningham. The Big Dipper contributed his lowest scoring average in seven seasons in 1966 and couldn’t get the team past Boston in the division finals. The next season brought a new coach and a league title to Philadelphia. New coach Alex Hannum told Chamberlain to “pass more and shoot less”. The Sixers again faced the Celtics in the division finals, but managed to postpone Boston’s plans for a ninth consecutive league title. The team went on to face - guess who - the Warriors in the NBA Finals and won the championship in six games. “That Sixers team has since been recognized as one of the greatest ever. As part of the NBA's 35th-anniversary celebration in 1980, the 1966-67 Sixers were voted the best team in NBA history”. Philadelphia spent the following two seasons watching the Celtics win additional league titles before the Sixers sent Chamberlain to Los Angeles. It is worth noting that despite the team’s shortcomings during the 1968-69 season, Cunningham ranked third among the league’s leading scorers. Indeed, the Sixers were facing hard times; and things would get worse.

During the 1970s the Sixers “set the standard by which bad teams would be measured for many years”. The team finally got a break under a new owner who gave Philadelphia a reputation based on money. For example, the team paid $6 million for Julius “Dr. J” Erving prior to the 1976-77 season. Erving built on the vertical, creative game played by Connie Hawkins (and later MJ). That season the Sixers reached the Finals to face Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers, taking the title in six games.

The team passed Boston in the conference finals to meet Los Angeles in the NBA Finals in 1980 and 1982, losing both match-ups. A year later, Moses Malone joins the Philadelphia roster and helped the team sweep the New York Knicks and the Lakers in the Finals for the NBA title. The Sixers were handed only one loss in their playoff run. Malone was named both regular season and Finals MVP honors. The 1982-83 season would be the highest point of Sixers history until the new millennium due to constant battles with injuries and a revolving door of coaches. Prior to the 1984-85 season, Charles Barkley joined the team. Two years later, Malone was traded and Dr. J ended his career.

Philadelphia spent the 1990s in much the same way they spent the 1960s and 70s - watching another team build a dynasty. During the first season of the decade, only two players appeared in all 82 games and the team lost to the Chicago Bulls in the semifinals. Meanwhile, the Bulls began collecting their first of six NBA Championships in eight years. That was the problem with sharing a conference with a dynasty - as long as the defending champions continued to win, the rest of the conference (and perhaps the league) didn’t stand a chance. Prior to the 1996-97 season, the Sixers were purchased by the Comcast Corporation and moved to the CoreStates Center. In addition, the team drafted Allen “The Answer” Iverson, who was named Rookie of the Year. Larry Brown became the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers before the start of the 1997-98 season and led the team to the playoffs the following season. By the end of the decade, Jerry Krouse, Chicago’s General Manager, had dismantled the Bulls. That meant opportunity for the rest of the league, especially the Sixers. The team acquired former Bulls player Toni Kukoc, who recorded the first triple-double for the Sixers in five years. Still the team fell to the Indiana Pacers in both the 1999 and 2000 semifinals.

Philadelphia started strong in the 2000-01 season, including a 10-game winning streak that started in New York at Madison Square Garden. With Iverson and Eric Snow on the injured list, the team began a 13-game (away game) winning streak. A few days after the All-Star break, the team sent Kukoc to Atlanta for Dikembe Mutombo. While Iverson won the All-Star MVP, team earned the best record in the Eastern Conference with a win over Boston. Philadelphia eliminated the Pacers in the first round and eventually advanced to the NBA Finals to meet the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. While the Sixers took Game One and homecourt advantage, L.A. rallied to take a four-game sweep and the championship. For their efforts, the 76ers became the first team in league history to receive MVP (Iverson), Coach of the Year (Brown), Defensive Player of the Year (Mutombo) and Sixth Man of the Year (Aaron McKie). After the season, the team went back to fighting injuries and revolving coaches when Brown steeped down as coach at the end of the 2002-03 season. A year later, Iverson became the first Sixers player since Dr. J to be a started in five straight All-Star games; and the rest, as they say, is history.

For more information on the Philadelphia 76ers, visit www.nba.com/sixers