The 76ers are poised to make a deep playoff run after locking up the top spot in the Eastern Conference, hoping to make the franchise’s first trip to the NBA Finals since Allen Iverson ruled the city.
A franchise like the Sixers comes into the postseason with plenty of playoff history behind it, but this team arrives with a new level of expectation, as Philadelphia looks to claim its first NBA title since 1983.
Here are the five best playoff moments in Sixers history that the current team will try to surpass:
First in Philly
The 1996 Bulls and 2017 Warriors put up the most dominant regular season performances the NBA has ever seen, but the 1967 Sixers were one of the best to ever do it as well. Finishing the 1966-67 season with a 68-13 record, Philly set a league record in winning percentage, and led by Wilt Chamberlain (who averaged 24.1 points per game and shot 68.3 percent from the field that season), stormed to the NBA Finals to take the Warriors down in six games.
While the 1967 title was the second in franchise history, it was the team’s first since moving to Philadelphia, and was a fitting way to close out the team’s short tenure at the Philadelphia Civic Center (the Sixers would move to the Philadelphia Spectrum that next season).
Cheeks slams home Finals exclamation point
Maurice Cheeks wasn’t known as a dunker in the NBA. The 6-foot-1 point guard was the team’s fourth leading scorer in the 1982-83 season, but he had the most memorable bucket in game four of the NBA Finals. After Philly had run away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lakers 33-15 to put the Sixers on the verge of a sweep, Cheeks broke off on a fast break and threw down a dunk to seal a win that was already in hand.
Cheeks said he was caught up in the moment when he capped off the dominant sweep, and by doing so, created a moment Sixers fans will never forget, and an image that always comes to mind when thinking of the franchise’s last NBA title.
Fo, Fo, Fo
While Cheeks had maybe the most memorable bucket of the 1983 title run, it was Moses Malone who took home Finals MVP after leading all scorers and rebounders in the first three games of the series. For Malone, finishing off the title run was about fulfilling his own prophecy that he almost nailed before the playoffs began.
Malone’s famous “Fo, Fo, Fo” prediction, claiming the Sixers would sweep all three rounds of the playoffs to win the title, was nearly spot-on. Philly swept the Knicks in the first round and the Lakers in the Finals, but lost once game in the conference finals against the Bucks. But it was still a dominant run and an impressive performance after Malone gave every team bulletin board material before the postseason began.
The baseline layup
Is Julius Erving’s iconic reverse layup against the Lakers in the 1980 NBA Finals the most memorable layup of all time? It has a strong argument given how incredible the play looks even today.
In a tight battle with the Lakers in game four, Dr. J drove toward the baseline with his right hand and went up for a layup. With a wall of defenders in front of him, Erving stayed airborne for what seemed like forever, the ball being held up with his outstretched arm before scooping a reverse layup from behind the backboard to the left side of the hoop for a gravity-defying bucket that stunned the Lakers.
The Sixers won the game to tie the series, but the Lakers wound up winning it all. But Irving’s bucket remains the most memorable play from that series.
The Stepover
Iverson may have recently said that he forgets the incident, but stepping over Tyronn Lue is the most iconic on-court moment of his NBA career. Battling with the Lakers in overtime of game one of the 2001 NBA Finals, Iverson crossed over Lue before burying a baseline jumper to put the Sixers ahead by four with a minute to go. It was Iverson’s seventh straight point, and after Lue fell to the ground following the shot, Iverson looked down at his helpless defender and stepped over his body on his way back down the other end of the floor.
It was a trademark moment for a historic season for Iverson. He won MVP, carried Philadelphia to an improbable Finals appearance, and for one night, gave fans hope that the Sixers could take down the defending champs. That game one loss was the first playoff defeat for the Lakers that season, but they would collect themselves and win four straight games.