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and an excellent passionate coach with championship pedigree, Billy Cunningham and a great GM Pat Williams, that was our 4th time to the finals in 7 years, i was on Broad Street and in the Vet for the parade in 83. I lived in Philly, went to 1980s play off games at the Spectrum. That 1983 team was a GREAT defensive team. Mo Cheeks was one of the purest pt guards ever and a historically great defender, master of the passing lanes and Philly just played great heady team D. Andrew Toney could play DJ and/or Bird defensively, Toney was a great on ball defender and of course Bobby Jones was punching shots and flying in for dunks on the break and had a decent j and Clemon put in good physical minutes as did Clint, players knew their roles and it was a real team. When Malone came to Philly, it was like oh shit, this dude takes over, he is relentless offensively, oh I see why he won multiple MVPs, he comes to punish down low and dominate.

I did not think about it when the Sixers won it in 83, but you are right; other than Bobby Jones and Clint Richardson, the bench was thin. Seeing that Iavaroni actually belonged there too makes it a bit scary if your starters get hurt. As tonygajate mentioned in his comment, this team was solid defensively from all starting positions -perhaps Andrew Toney was the least of the bunch in this respect, but he could still defend his own lunchbox. Jones was a good weak side and strong side defender as well.

@@generatorx Clemons was actually a fair back-up 4-5 ...so I always saw it as 3 deep regularly...with 2-3 guys who could play in spots..Cureton , Threet...though I think Harvey Catchings started the year with them...Jones , Richardson and Cureton all had at least 1 big game in the finals.

@@ric2097 Threatt was not on the Championship team, he was drafted the following year. Cureton was a decent rebounder and defender; his shooting sucked however. Philly did not draft well during this period -hampered for the most part by doing well and drafting at the bottom of the order. Doc and Bobby were in their 30s and were on the decline by this point, Malone came straight from HS so he was still young. Had Philly gotten Malone earlier, they may have had a couple more rings. The competition during this time was tough. Great players were dispersed around the league. Unlike the boneheads today....Let's all go join one team and win a ring.

@@generatorx i remember Cureton in one finals game replaced Moses with 4-5 mins left in the third till 4-5mins into the 4th helped keep things even till Moses got back...Clemons was out that game...even had a hook shot against Kareem..and Richardson replaced Toney after him and Nixon collided...He scored like 14 points...10 in the third...his usual defence and hustle

lmaooo facts ,