The 1981–82 NBA season was the 36th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals.
The regular-season ran until mid to late-April for the first time.The 1982 NBA All-Star Game was played at the new Brendan Byrne Arena (now the Medowlands Arena ) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the East defeating the West 120–118. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics wins the game's MVP award. This season also marked the New Jersey Nets first season in the new arena.On March 6, 1982, San Antonio beat Milwaukee 171-166 in three overtime periods to set the record for most points by two teams in a game. The record was broken two seasons later.Magic Johnson secures his second NBA Finals MVP award several months before his 23rd birthday.The Los Angeles Lakers begin a string of nine consecutive seasons as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.The Denver Nuggets scored at least 100 points in every single game of the season, the only time this has occurred in NBA history.After a few years of success in NCAA basketball, the breakaway rim became standardized equipment in the NBA.
Notes
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs and first round byec – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs and first round byey – Clinched division title and first round byex – Clinched playoff spotTeams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
Most Valuable Player: Moses Malone, Houston RocketsRookie of the Year: Buck Williams, New Jersey NetsCoach of the Year: Gene Shue, Washington BulletsAll-NBA First Team:Larry Bird, Boston CelticsGeorge Gervin, San Antonio SpursJulius Erving, Philadelphia 76ersMoses Malone, Houston RocketsGus Williams, Seattle SuperSonicsAll-NBA Rookie Team:Buck Williams, New Jersey NetsJay Vincent, Dallas MavericksKelly Tripucka, Detroit PistonsIsiah Thomas, Detroit PistonsJeff Ruland, Washington BulletsNote: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com
