#4. Philadelphia 76ers
So even though the rivalry between Philadelphia and Los Angeles has manifested itself more in recent years as that between the Dodgers and Phillies, you can’t ignore the place in history that the 76ers place with the Lakers.
Although a rivalry short of cowbells and nasty taunts, it was one with a little “magic” and one of the world’s most famous doctors in display! In 1980, these two teams went six games in an NBA Finals series that had a young Magic Johnson scoring 42 points, while playing center in Game 5 for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers would go on to win the series 4-2.
The two teams would go on to meet again in the finals in 1982 and once again the Lakers would dominate with a 4-2 series victory. But by the 1983 NBA finals, the Sixers were a much more dominate team than the squad that lost to the Lakers two out of the last three years.
With the off-season acquisition of Moses Malone and an All-Star cast of “Dr.J” Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones, they plowed through a 65 win season right into the Finals. During their third meeting in just three years, the results were much different. This time the 76ers would prevail with an embarrassing sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers.
It would take 18 years for the Lakers and the 76ers to meet again in the NBA Finals. This time the cast was much different with players like Shaq and Kobe leading the Lakers, and Allen Iverson and Dikemeb Mutumbo at the helm for Philadelphia. The series would wrap up in five games and hand the Lakers a second consecutive title.
The league’s MVP in Allen Iverson, defensive player of the year Dikembe Mutumbo, coach of the year – Larry Brown, and sixth man of the year, Aaron McKie were no match for a powerful Lakers squad.
